The Rationale Behind the New Alzheimer's Disease Conceptualization: Lessons Learned During the Last Decades.

ABSTRACT: In the last decades, progress in neuroimaging techniques and cerebrospinal fluid assays has enabled the characterization of several Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers. This knowledge has shifted the conceptualization of AD from a clinical-pathological construct, where its diagnosis required the presence of dementia with distinct pathologic features, toward a clinical-biological one that recognizes AD as a pathological continuum with a clinical picture that ranges from normal cognition to a dementia stage. Specifically, AD is now divided into three stages: preclinical (abnormal biomarkers and no or only subtle cognitive impairment), mild cognitive impairment or prodromal AD (abnormal pathophysiological biomarkers and episodic memory impairment), and dementia (abnormal biomarkers and clear

SUBMITTER: Molinuevo JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5869992 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature