Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
329311 | Neurobiology of Aging | 2010 | 10 Pages |
This study aimed to investigate whether cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers could have helped the clinician in differential dementia diagnosis in case of clinically ambiguous diagnoses, as compared to autopsy-confirmed dementia diagnosis as gold standard.Twenty-two patients of our autopsy-confirmed dementia population totalling 157 patients had an ambiguous clinical diagnosis at CSF sampling and were included in statistical analysis. CSF levels of β-amyloid peptide (Aβ1-42), total tau protein (T-tau) and tau phosphorylated at threonine 181 (P-tau181P) were determined. A biomarker-based model was applied to discriminate between AD and NON-AD dementias.AD and NON-AD patients showed no significant differences in Aβ1-42 and T-tau concentrations, whereas P-tau181P concentrations were significantly higher in AD compared to NON-AD patients. The biomarker-based diagnostic model correctly classified 18 of 22 (82%) patients with clinically ambiguous diagnoses.Using a biomarker-based model in patients with clinically ambiguous diagnoses, a correct diagnosis would have been established in the majority of autopsy-confirmed AD and NON-AD cases, indicating that biomarkers have an added diagnostic value in cases with ambiguous clinical diagnoses.