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New

Exclusively Available Through Dynacare

ATN Profile

Get Clearer Answers and a Faster Diagnosis for Alzheimer’s disease

This advanced, non-invasive blood test can help shorten the time to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease.

What is Alzheimer’s disease?

Alzheimer’s is thought to be the most common form of dementia. Its symptoms vary but may start with mild memory loss or difficulty remembering words or names. As it progresses, Alzheimer’s causes worsening confusion and memory loss, changes in personality, the inability to perform everyday tasks and more.

Alzheimer’s is caused by a slow build-up of protein plaques and tangles in the brain that eventually cause brain cells to stop working properly. This build-up usually starts years before a person experiences symptoms. Alzheimer’s-related memory loss is caused by brain cells working improperly and dying -a process known as neurodegeneration.

Diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease

Until recently, it has been difficult to identify the biological changes that indicate Alzheimer’s. The typical evaluation, which includes physical exam, blood and urine tests and cognitive testing may provide ambiguous or conflicting answers, which can result in delayed diagnosis, appropriate referrals, and treatment until symptoms become clearer.

The good news is that has changed with new technology and testing.

 
 

The ATN Profile

The ATN Profile helps healthcare providers detect evidence of biological changes consistent with Alzheimer’s. This test is the first objective tool that doctors have to help evaluate Alzheimer’s, meaning that with a simple blood test, your provider can get a clearer answers on Alzheimer’s and its progression and get patients on a care plan earlier.

The results from this test can help accelerate the path to diagnosis, giving you or your loved ones access to earlier treatment and more time to make important decisions.

What is ATN?

ATN is a classification system established by the Alzheimer’s research community that groups various biomarkers for Alzheimer’s into three categories that look for evidence of biological changes. A profile is a test that looks at multiple biomarkers at the same time.

Represents amyloid, and categorizes tests associated with detecting amyloid plaques, which are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.

Represents tau, and categorizes tests associated with detecting tau tangles, which is a second hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.

Represents neurodegeneration, and categorizes tests associated with determining whether a patient’s brain cells are dying. Unlike ‘A’ and ’T’ markers, ’N’ markers determine disease severity

By looking at all three of these biomarkers together, the Dynacare ATN Profile provides you and your doctor clear and measurable insight into Alzheimer’s-related changes in the body.

How to Get the ATN Profile

The ATN Profile is exclusively available from Dynacare.

The ATN Profile may be right for you if you or a loved one has had a clinical assessment for dementia and your physician/a clinician has determined additional testing/assessments are needed.

This simple blood test must be ordered through a healthcare provider. You can provide your blood sample at your doctor’s office or through the convenient Dynacare network of Laboratories and Health Services Centres.

Ask your healthcare provider if the Dynacare ATN Profile is right for you.

 
 

Understand your ATN Panel Results

Blood testing for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias is not yet a perfect science. This test is available to help your doctor determine if follow-up testing is necessary.

Follow-up testing is intended to confirm a diagnosis, so be careful not to make assumptions or plans based on the results of the ATN Profile. These follow-up tests are much more invasive and expensive, which is why the blood-based ATN Profile is a viable first option to assess whether biological changes associated with dementia and Alzheimer’s are present.

In general, dementia and Alzheimer’s testing is complicated; be sure to have thorough conversations with your healthcare providers about all your results.

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