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WASHINGTON -- A subtle change in a memory-making brain region seems to predict who will get Alzheimer's disease nine years before symptoms appear, scientists said yesterday.
The finding is part of a wave of research aimed at early detection of the deadly dementia -- and one day even preventing it.

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PET scans of an area of the brain in normal, middle-aged and older people may help determine who will eventually develop Alzheimer's Disease, according to research presented at a conference organized by the Alzheimer's Association.

While the article does present data on the sensitivity (true positive rate) of the test, it does not discuss the specificity (true negative rate). The article does state that these results need to be confirmed in subsequent research. Methods of possibly preventing Alzheimer's are also briefly discussed but the presentation of the research is too sketchy to properly evaluate the strength of the findings.

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