The tool could enable clinicians to detect Alzheimer's earlier

A much-anticipated test developed Ray ban sunglasses by Eli Lilly LLY +0.37% & Co. that detects the presence of proteins in the brain that are related to Alzheimer's disease was approved Friday by the Food and Drug Administration. The tool could enable clinicians to detect Alzheimer's earlier and more accurately in patients at the earliest sign of memory problems—a potential boon to treatment and developing drugs against the disease. The test uses a chemical called florbetapir, known by the brand name Amyvid, which is a radioactive agent that tags clumps of a sticky substance called an amyloid. Amyloid proteins are hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. The chemical, which costs $1,600 per dose, then is detected using a brain imaging technique called positron emission tomography, known as PET scans. For patients who already have some symptoms of cognitive decline, a positive scan suggests that moderate to frequent amyloid plaques Oakley sunglasses are present in the brain, which is consistent with Alzheimer's disease. If the scan is negative, indicating no clumps or few clumps of amyloid, "that gives the clinician a clue that Alzheimer's is less likely to be the cause of those symptoms," said Daniel Skovronsky, who developed the agent and is the global brand-development leader for Amyvid at Lilly. For those patients, doctors can then look for other potential causes of the memory decline, which may have another prognosis or be treated differentially than Alzheimer's, he said. The imaging agent burberry handbags can't be used to diagnose someone with Alzheimer's disease if the individual doesn't experience memory impairment because the presence of amyloid in the brain doesn't alone suggest that someone has Alzheimer's. Before the development of imaging agents, amyloid plaques could be determined only after death, by examining the brain during an autopsy. Some 20% of cognitively healthy older adults have been found during autopsies to have large quantities of amyloid in the brain, according to burberry watches Denise Park, director of the Center for Vital Longevity at the University of Texas at Dallas. "It is likely to play an important role in learning both how to diagnose and treat the disease, but it's still an open question at this point for asymptomatic people," said Dr. Park, a behavioral burberry ties and brain-sciences professor who uses Amyvid in her research on aging of healthy older adults. Amyvid will be available in limited quantities starting in June, Lilly said. A lack of ability to reliably diagnose patients in the early stages of the Alzheimer's disease has hampered research. Some experts believe that investigational drug trials have failed because patients enrolled in such burberry hats for women studies already had progressed too far for the treatments to be effective. Proponents of using florbetapir and similar agents that are being developed have said that such technology will accelerate research by helping to accurately identify people at high risk of developing the condition and to enroll such people in therapeutic trials. It also may be useful in tracking disease progression in the brain. Some experts have questioned how useful the test is since no treatments are available that significantly alter the course of the disease. Puma sunglasses, cheap puma glasses wholesale 2012. But some doctors believe that patients may find a diagnosis helpful for planning purposes or just to know for certain that they have Alzheimer's. Another concern expressed by the FDA is whether doctors can read the scan results accurately and consistently. The agency in March of last year declined to approve the compound and said the company needed to establish a program to train doctors to interpret accurately the scan results. Lilly has worked with the FDA and experts to develop three-hour online and in-person training programs for physicians. "There are a lot of patients who 2012 louis vuitton women shoes popular 2012 new brown have been groping in the dark for some time now, and here's an opportunity to shine a light in their brain and find out if there's amyloid or not," Dr. Skovronsky said.