Dr. Sam Gandy: "Studies Confirm Brain Plaque Can Help Predict Alzheimer's"
The largest analysis to date of amyloid plaques in people’s brains confirms that the presence of the substance can help predict who will develop Alzheimer’s and determine who has the disease. Two linked studies, published Tuesday in JAMA, also support the central early role in Alzheimer’s of beta amyloid, the protein that creates plaques. Samuel Gandy, MD, an Alzheimer’s researcher at The Mount Sinai Hospital, who was not involved in the research, said doctors “can feel fairly confident that amyloid is due to Alzheimer’s.” But he and others cautioned against screening most people without dementia because there is not yet a drug that prevents or treats Alzheimer’s, and amyloid scans are expensive and typically not covered by insurance. Learn more
- Dr. Samuel Gandy, Professor, Neurology, Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Associate Director, Mount Sinai Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center