Early diagnosis, dementia

Clinical diagnosis of AD is not difficult once the disease is established, but early diagnosis before dementia becomes overt is far from perfect, although it is likely that many therapies will be most effective in the early stages of AD. Thus, there is a great need for techniques to detect AD in the preclinical stages. 

Although in expert hands the clinical diagnosis of AD is predictive of AD pathology in 80-90% of cases, very early diagnosis of AD, and differential diagnosis of unusual presentations of patients with dementia remains difficult on clinical grounds. 

Wilteang, )., Esselmann, H., Malee, ). M., Bleich, S., Huther,G., Koenhuber,). (2001b). Molecular biology of Alzheimer s dementia and its clinical relevance to early diagnosis and new therapeutic strategies. Gerontology 47, 65-71. 

M.D. Devous Sr., Functional brain imaging in the dementias Role in early detection, differential diagnosis, and longitudinal studies, Eur. J. Nucl. Med. 29 (2002) 1685-1696. 

Clinically, the administration of desferrioxamine (DFO)76 has been reported to increase urinary A1 excretion in humans and to slow the progression of AD symptoms in a small number of patients.77 Very recently, a major step in the diagnosis of AD was reported in the preparation of antibodies that specifically recognize PHFs in human brain tissue.78 This may lead to a diagnostic test, which is a very pressing need because other conditions that cause dementia, such as depression and drug toxicity, are reversible. Also therapy for AD may be more effective if it is diagnosed early. Presently AD can only be confirmed on autopsy. 

Clinical Neuroproteomics of Human Body Fluids CSF and Blood Assays for Early and Differential Diagnosis of Dementia... 

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