NHS promises to cover imaging to rule out Alzheimer’s

The G8 Dementia Summit held in London Dec. 11 aimed not only at increasing funding research for Alzheimer’s disease, but also approving diagnostic dementia imaging by the U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS).

This would signal the first-ever national coverage for dementia imaging. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) agreed to cover a single amyloid PET imaging exam per patient in September but only under limited coverage with evidence development and within CMS-mandated clinical trials.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re in London or Los Angeles, in rural India or urban Japan—this disease steals lives, it wrecks families, it breaks hearts and that is why all of us here are so utterly determined to beat it,” British prime minister David Cameron stated in a speech at the summit, according to an official transcript. “In generations past, the world came together to take on the great killers. We stood against malaria, cancer, HIV and AIDS, and we are just as resolute today. I want December 11, 2013 to go down as the day that the global fightback began.”

Alzheimer’s reportedly affects an estimated 500,000 people across the U.K. A significant number of patients currently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s are thought to be misdiagnosed. Approval of a scan to rule out Alzheimer’s pathology would provide patients and their families with more information in order to make appropriate life decisions in lieu of a cure.