Preclinical Detection: Benefits and Strategies

      Although no cure exists for AD, preclinical disease detection has several benefits. When early detection assessments are negative, people with mild memory complaints can be reassured that their forgetfulness reflects a normal age-related change that probably will not progress.

     In addition, many people would like to know about a poor prognosis while still in a mildly impaired state in order to plan their futures while mental faculties remain. Perhaps the most compelling argument for preclinical detection strategies is to identify candidates for novel antidementia treatments before the dementing process causes extensive neuronal death, since new antidementia treatments are more likely to delay the dementing process than to reverse neuronal death.
      Although current cholinergic treatments have been shown to result in symptomatic, rather than disease-altering or structural effects, it would certainly be of interest to initiate treatments very early when searching for a disease-modifying effect. Moreover, both the expense and potential risks of treatment make it reasonable to reserve treatment only for those people who are at the greatest risk for developing the disease.