Researchers from Stanford University have developed a blood test that appears to identify patients who have or are prone to contracting Alzheimer's disease. If the initial findings prove correct, then doctors will have a new tool in diagnosing this neurodegenerative disease which kills 66,000 Americans each year.

The scientists have found that those with Alzheimer's consistently have a set of 18 distinct chemical signals in their blood. Stanford neurology Professor Tony Wyss-Coray, the team leader of the project, said that these are signaling proteins that cells use to communicate with each other and that they decided to look for the more distinctive proteins in Alzheimer's patients.

In one of their experiments, the scientists found that the new method was able to correctly identify Alzheimer stricken individuals 90% of the time. The test was also able to classify individuals without Alzheimer's disease but had other mild cognitive diseases with 87% accuracy.

While the results look promising, Wyss-Coray said that it will take at least two more years and further studies before this new method can be adopted by clinics across the United States. If this is further developed, then this will be another new tool in the fight against Alzheimer's disease.