Tallaght University Hospital (TUH) based Dr Adam Dyer was recently presented with the Stefania Maggi Award at the 20th European Geriatric Medicine Society (EuGMS) Conference for new research which has implications for the detection of early Alzheimer's Disease.

A Specialist Registrar in Geriatric Medicine, and Irish Clinical Academic Training Fellow (ICAT) at TUH and Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Dr Dyer became the first Irish recipient of the award which was presented at the conference in the Spanish city of Valencia. The award is given to the best research performed by Early-Career Geriatricians across Europe.

Dr Dyer received the accolade for the findings of a new study which took place at the Institute of Memory and Cognition at TUH. The research demonstrated that it is possible to use a blood test to detect proteins that build up in the brain of individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease.

It is hoped in the future this will reduce the need for some patients to have more invasive procedures such as a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) to confirm the presence of these proteins. Currently, only a lumbar puncture test can detect amyloid protein which builds up in the brain of individuals with early Alzheimer's Disease. This is an invasive test and carries certain risks such as post-procedural headache.

Dr Dyer examined the performance of a new blood test - plasma P Tau217 - to detect amyloid - one of the proteins that make up plaques in the brains of people with early Alzheimer’s Disease. In his research, Dr Dyer used samples - generously donated by 108 individuals over the past two years - to assess whether blood tests could detect the same proteins that are currently looked for using lumbar puncture. The study found the blood test for P-tau217 was over 90% as accurate as a diagnostic lumbar puncture to detect this amyloid protein.

Dr Dyer outlines how the study found that “blood tests such as plasma P-Tau217 demonstrate excellent performance in detecting the changes characteristic of Alzheimer’s Disease. In the future, clinical use of these blood tests may enable us to avoid invasive tests such as lumbar punctures in over half of individuals who currently have these procedures performed.”

Professor Seán Kennelly, Lead Investigator and Director of the Institute of Memory and Cognition at TUH, explained that their Institute has a “research biobank whereby people who have symptoms and are undergoing this lumbar puncture for clinical reasons, can volunteer to donate a cerebrospinal fluid and blood sample for future research. This is important as there is now strong evidence that blood biomarkers of Alzheimer's Disease may be as good as lumbar punctures. Although this is usually in research cohorts, very few studies have been conducted in real-world memory clinic settings. This is why the samples and data collected in the TUH biobank are so important.”