Spinal tap test offers new hope to patients with early dementia - Daily Mail

A spinal tap test to spot early-stage Alzheimer’s disease could soon be brought in by the NHS so a radical new treatment can be started in time.

Almost one million Britons have dementia – with Alzheimer’s being the most common form – which damages the brain, causing memory loss, confusion and behaviour changes.

A spinal tap, currently undergoing a pilot study, uses a long needle to remove fluid from the spinal cord and has been proved to correctly identify 90 per cent of dementia cases and experts believe it is quicker than the NHS’s traditional screening tools of memory tests and brain scans.

A spinal tap, currently undergoing a pilot study, uses a long needle to remove fluid from the spinal cord and has been proved to correctly identify 90 per cent of dementia cases and experts believe it is quicker than the NHS’s traditional screening tools of memory tests and brain scans.

While most Alzheimer’s diagnoses in the UK are picked up using memory tests, many countries already use the spinal tap.

While most Alzheimer’s diagnoses in the UK are picked up using memory tests, many countries already use the spinal tap