Treating the disease early is thought to be vital to prevent damage to memory and thinking. 

 

A study, published in the Lancet Neurology, found differences in the brains of an extended Colombian family predisposed to develop an early form of Alzheimer's.

 

Experts said the US study may give doctors more time to treat people.

 

Alzheimer's disease starts long before anyone would notice; previous studies have shown an effect on the brain 10-15 years before symptoms. 

 

It is only after enough brain cells have died that the signs of dementia begin to appear - some regions of the brain will have lost up to 20% of their brain cells before the disease becomes noticeable.

 

However, doctors fear so much of the brain will have degenerated¹ by this time that it will be too late to treat patients. The failure of recent trials to prevent further cognitive² decline in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease has been partly put down to timing³.

 

 

A team at the Banner Alzheimer's Institute in Arizona looked at a group of patients in Colombia who have familial Alzheimer's. A genetic⁴ mutation⁵ means they nearly always get the disease in their 40s. Alzheimer's normally becomes apparent after the age of 75.

 

Brain scans of 20 people with the mutation, aged⁶ between 18 and 26, already showed differences compared with those from 24 people who were not destined⁷ to develop early Alzheimer's.

 

The fluid which bathes the brain and spinal⁸ cord also had higher levels of a protein called beta-amyloid.

 

The researchers said differences could be detected "more than two decades before" symptoms would appear in these high-risk patients.

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