Urine Test for Alzheimer's Disease

A new test called AlzheimAlert uses first-morning urine samples to detect levels of a brain protein called neural thread protein (NTP), known to be elevated in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Early and accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease has been identified as a crucial need for the treatment and care of patients. Distinguishing Alzheimer's symptoms from age-related memory decline, depression, or drug side-effects can be difficult, and significant delays occur between the first signs of illness and its diagnosis. Early diagnosis and treatment may be able to prevent some of the more devastating later effects of the disease in some patients.

"Urine has huge advantages over other modalities,” noted Dr. Michael Munzar, medical director of Nymox Pharmaceutical Corp. (Quebec, Canada), which developed the test. "Other modalities such as spinal fluid, or scans, or tissue samples are generally more costly and invasive, and of course more inconvenient. Furthermore, AlzheimAlert is a proven technology.”





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