Beginning next month, doctors can use a brain scan to better diagnose
Alzheimer’s. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved a fluorescent dye that binds to amyloid plaques, a physical hallmark of the disease, as a diagnostic tool.
Currently, doctors cannot be certain whether or not a patient’s
brain is riddled with amyloid plaques until after the patient’s death.
But now, clinicians can use a weakly radioactive dye to search for the
presence of plaques in a living patient. The dye binds to the starchy
amyloid that builds up in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients and can be
visualized in a PET scan.
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