New Test To Detect Alzheimer's Early

Detecting Alzheimer's early on helps get needed treatment started, but that's been difficult to do.

But, now, a new test might help out.

The beauty of it is that it's a simple eye test, but this simple test might detect Alzheimer's way before symptoms start up.

Over 5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's, which is the most common form of dementia. Unfortunately, there is no cure for this devastating disease, but there are medicines and physical therapies that can help ease symptoms, especially if they are started early on. But early detection has been a problem. Brain scans can often detect changes years before someone has symptoms of Alzheimer's, but they're often too expensive and time consuming for everyone to use.

Well, now researcher have found that a simple eye test could help detect who will develop Alzheimer's Disease years before symptoms start to show up.

This eye test is still in the experimental stage, but results so far have been very promising. A study presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference found changes in the eye's blood vessels in people with Alzheimer's. The width of these blood vessels were different in people with Alzheimer's and that difference was consisted with changes also found early on in brain scans.

Although this was a small study, the researchers involved hope to do larger studies soon to verify the results. Hopefully this will become one test in the near future you can get at your local eye doctor as a great screening tool for all of us to help detect Alzheimer's early on, when treatment can have the biggest impact.