Evaluation of CSF-tau and CSF-Aβ42 as Diagnostic Markers for Alzheimer Disease in Clinical Practice

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Abstract
THE CLINICAL diagnosis of sporadic Alzheimer disease (AD) is based on the identification of dementia with a clinical profile suggestive of AD from the medical history and clinical examination together with the exclusion of other causes of dementia using brain imaging and laboratory tests.1 There are no established (ie, used in clinical routine) biochemical markers to identify AD. Such biochemical markers might increase diagnostic accuracy, especially early in the course of the disease, when clinical symptoms might be mild and vague and overlap with cognitive changes accompanying aging and other brain disorders. Especially in view of future disease-modifying compounds, which are likely to have their maximal benefit before neurodegeneration is widespread, there is a great need for reliable biochemical diagnostic markers of AD.