“With the addition of biomarkers to support the clinical suspicion of dementia, we have been able to strengthen those criteria substantially, giving physicians the ability to be much more confident in their diagnoses,” Dr. Morris said in an interview.
Previously, the only way to obtain a definitive Alzheimer's disease diagnosis was through brain autopsy.”
The project was funded by the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association.
Disclosures: None of the physicians reported any potential financial conflicts.
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Alzheimer's Is Coming of Age
The proposal to update Alzheimer's disease diagnostic criteria will incorporate the progress made these last 20 years in our understanding of the disease. We already have a number of promising approaches to the disease that include both drug and non-drug interventions, and much has been done to understand the basic biology and pathology of disease progression. Even though we have no cure and currently cannot prevent Alzheimer's disease, I prefer my patients to run toward a diagnosis rather than away from it, so I expect that these criteria will help.
With each advance in medicine, more sensitive and specific tests are validated and used to diagnose and treat a wide assortment of conditions. This is now the case with Alzheimer's disease. It is the inclusion of these biomarkers in the updated diagnostic criteria that will help us arrive at a diagnosis sooner and to allow us to study a variety of drug and non–drug interventions in an attempt to modify disease progression.
Clinicians use a variety of tools to assess the patient. We use laboratory tests including blood, urine and cerebrospinal fluid, imaging studies, pathologic findings, and interpretation of the history and physical to arrive at our conclusions. The more sensitive and specific the test, the more sure we are that the diagnosis is correct. Alzheimer's disease is coming of age and if new tests move us forward, then we need to incorporate these tools into our plan of care.
ERIC G. TANGALOS, M.D., is co-director of education at the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. He is also professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minn. Dr. Tangalos is a consultant to Novartis and is on the data safety board for Eli Lilly; his wife owns stock in Johnson& Johnson, all of which have Alzheimer's disease products.
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