Study Sheds Light on Alzheimer's Diagnosis

There may be new hope for people threatened by Alzheimer's. A Duke University study released today outlines better ways to diagnose the disease early when treatments are more effective. A combination of three imaging and bio-markers were used on patients to see which one provided the most useful information to help in diagnosis. Doctor Jeffrey Petrella is an associate professor of radiology at Duke University Medical Center and a lead author of the study.

Jeffrey Petrella: "It was actually all three bio-markers contributed unique information and all three of them gave the greatest prognostic information, in other words predictive information on the development of Alzheimer's disease."

But Petrella says the three tests are expensive. He suggests a future study may be necessary to determine the cost effectiveness of this methodology.