title: Antemortem laboratory diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: The accuracy of diagnosis for AD by conventional clinical and laboratory means is in the order of 80%. Neurophysiological techniques (EEG, evoked potentials) show abnormalities in AD that could prove to be useful for diagnosis after pharmacological challenges. CSF analysis show a reduction of the concentration of various neuropeptides, reduction shared by other types of dementias. Among the existing imaging techniques PET using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose is the most diagnostic in AD because of the early and often asymmetrical decrease in parietotemporal metabolic activity. Cortical biopsy with histological and biochemical analysis can provide an accurate in vivo diagnosis of AD.
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase / Q000032:analysis; D004569:Electroencephalography; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D009479:Neuropeptides / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D009479:Neuropeptides; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase