The US Food and Drug Administration has given marketing clearance to a blood test to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, making the test the first to get signoff to aid in the early detection of the disease in the United States.

The Food and Drug Administration cleared a new kind of test for Alzheimer’s disease designed to be more accessible and less risky for patients with cognitive decline.

The Lumipulse test reduces the need for positron emission tomography (PET) and the need to collect cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) via invasive lumbar puncture, which is required by previously approved tests. The Lumipulse test simply requires a blood sample.