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Alzheimer's Plaques Imaged in Living Brains

Posted by timothy on from the dilemma dept.

Yves writes "Japanese scientists have developed a technique to detect traces of Alzheimer's disease (amyloid plaques in the brain) on living mice... Until now, the standard way to confirm the presence of the plaques, and thus the disease, was by autopsy. The question remains: Do you really want to know early that you have Alzheimer disease, as there is no effective treatment yet?"

9 of 61 comments (clear)

  1. Personally by KinkifyTheNation · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I've thought about this before, and I don't think I could ever live knowing that all of my memories are going to go down the drain and not even realize it. I would probably go crazy at the thought and kill myself before it happened.

  2. Want to know? by dn15 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The question remains: Do you really want to know early that you have Alzheimer disease, as there is no effective treatment yet?
    Interesting question. I doubt I'd really want to know, as much as it may sound like sticking my head in the sand. What good can it do for one's quality of life to spend their days worrying about a disease, if nothing can be done about it anyway? Maybe it would be good to be able to put your affairs in order, but besides that probably not.
    1. Re:Want to know? by Curtman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It would probably be better information for the families, than for the individuals. You'd probably make better plans if you knew you were going to have to care for Grandpa as an alzheimer victim.

    2. Re:Want to know? by famebait · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Or move to a civilised country that actually manages to recognise the well-being of its citizens as a higher priority than the "right to not have health coverage".

      --
      sudo ergo sum
    3. Re:Want to know? by bluenawab · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think the importance of this breakthrough lies not in the knowledge that the patient gains, but the usefulness of this information to researchers. By diagnosing and studying the animals with alzheimers syndrome, researchers will have a clearer idea of the usefulness of various treatments.

    4. Re:Want to know? by russellh · · Score: 3, Insightful

      My Primary Care Physician has offered many tests to me "under the table" for that very reason.

      Isn't it great when you have to sneak around the healthcare system to feel safe.

      --
      must... stay... awake...
    5. Re:Want to know? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Why not do those things _right now_?

  3. that's not the only issue by edward.virtually@pob · · Score: 2, Insightful

    a more disturbing aspect of this is the possibility of employers and insurers discriminating against people based on the test.

  4. Not a case of "want to know or not" by GoRK · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What a ridiculous question! If doctors simply never told anyone about a problem if it was currently "incurable," what kind of medical advancements could anyone ever make?

    -- Being able to positively identify the plaques while a person is alive is instrumental to being able to determine the effectiveness of any proposed treatment in a timely manner. A patient could have symptoms of Alzheimers and participate in a treatment study -- if the symptoms miraculously dissapear, there would not be any way to positively determine if the treatment itself helped, or even if Alzheimers was the cause of the symptoms in the first place -- at least not until many years later when an autopsy might happen to confirm an earlier diagnosis.