New guidelines change face of Alzheimer's

Alzheimer's disease can be detected years and even decades before memory loss, new Alzheimer's Guidelines suggest.

It's been 27 years since guidelines for diagnosing Alzheimer's disease were laid out. The recent update stems from the evidence that the degeneration of nerves deep within the brain starts years and even decades before memory loss, ABC America reports.

The new criteria, published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, look into the earliest stages of the disease and the development of drugs that may slow or stop the degenerative process before the damage is done.

Their release follows a report that people with Alzheimer's disease may start experiencing shrinking of parts of the brain as many as 10 years before the degenerative condition is diagnosed.