Alzheimer's scans: ripe for abuse.

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http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/nation/9242031.htm

 

Posted on Sun, Jul. 25, 2004

 

Doctors: Alzheimer's fears could lead to unnecessary

procedures

 

ByJOHN FAUBER

 

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

 

PHILADELPHIA - The ability of doctors to image the

brain to look for early signs of Alzheimer's disease

has advanced dramatically in the last two years, but

researchers said last week the technology is ripe for

abuse.

 

Alzheimer's researchers said commercial firms already

have begun advertising brain scans to detect

Alzheimer's, a practice they said had little value for

most people and may even been detrimental.

 

" People are going to make money on these PET scans;

there's no question about it, " said Michael Weiner,

chairman of the neuroimaging working group of the

Alzheimer's Association and a professor of medicine at

the University of California, San Francisco.

 

In the last two years, positron emission tomography

(PET) has developed to the point where it can detect

the so-called plaques and tangles of proteins that

accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer's

disease. There also have been advances in magnetic

resonance imaging.

 

Still, except for research applications and other

limited uses, the technology has little value to the

general public, according to several scientists who

presented research here at the Ninth International

Conference on Alzheimer's Disease and Related

Disorders.

 

" I have reservations about everybody jumping on the

bandwagon, " said Shi-Jiang Li, a professor of

biophysics at the Medical College of Wisconsin who is

developing MRI scans to detect Alzheimer's. " I think

abuse is the right word. "

 

Li noted that many healthy people in their 50s may

have some plaques and tangles in their brains, but at

the moment there is no way to determine if they will

develop Alzheimer's disease.

 

William Klunk, a researcher at the University of

Pittsburgh who has developed a type of PET scan to

detect Alzheimer's, said the technology has little

value outside of research.

 

" That's the abuse we worry about, " he said.

 

Both PET and MRI scans can be expensive, ranging from

$1,500 to $2,500.

 

In addition, Weiner said, PET scans can needlessly

expose people to radiation.

 

At the moment, he said, the best way to diagnose

Alzheimer's is through a battery of cognitive tests,

and that is likely to be case for years to come. In

addition, blood tests can be given to look for a

genetic predisposition.

 

More important, Weiner said, the reality is there are

no available treatments to halt the Alzheimer's

disease process.

 

" I don't imagine a situation where everybody over 60

will get scanned, " he said.

 

Where scans most likely will be used is to test

whether new drugs are having an effect on halting the

disease, Klunk said.