
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, November 11, 1994                   TAG: 9411110052
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NEW ID TEST STUDIED FOR ALZHEIMER'S

Using a drug commonly employed to detect cataracts during eye examinations, Harvard researchers have devised an inexpensive new test for Alzheimer's disease that promises to speed the identification of the hard-to-diagnose disorder.

Alzheimer's, which causes loss of memory and bodily control and eventually is fatal, affects as many as 4million Americans - including former President Reagan, who announced Saturday that he is in the early stages of the disease.

Researchers are enthusiastic about the new technique, whose discovery is reported today in the journal Science, but caution that it has been studied in only a small number of people and must be tested in much larger numbers.

That caution, some experts argue, is justified. At least three other highly touted tests for the disorder failed to live up to their preliminary promise when subjected to larger trials.

Neurologists are desperate for a simple way to diagnose Alzheimer's in its earliest stages or even before symptoms appear.

They believe several new drugs now in development could delay progression of the disorder if they were given early enough.

``While this is certainly an exciting finding, we have to do more research to confirm these results and see if the test is reliable for Alzheimer's disease,'' said Dr. Steven DeKosky of the University of Pittsburgh, a member of the Alzheimer's Association advisory board.

The researchers also noted that the new test cannot now be conducted by most ophthalmologists because special equipment is necessary.

Neuroscientists Leonard F.M. Scinto and Huntington Potter of Harvard Medical School got the idea for the new test from Potter's work with Down syndrome, whose victims share many symptoms and biological problems with Alzheimer's patients.

Down syndrome patients who survive past the age of 30 develop brain lesions virtually identical to those of Alzheimer's patients, and also display most of the characteristic mental problems.

In typical clinical examinations now, Alzheimer's is diagnosed with 60 percent to 75 percent accuracy, Potter said. In advanced research centers, the accuracy rate can go up to 90 percent, but only after symptoms appear.

by CNB