title: Progress towards early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: Until recent years it was only possible to give a definitive diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease by post-mortem examination. In 2007, the International Working Group proposed that diagnosis could be made during the course of the disease. They suggested using clinical criteria such as poor memory that is not helped by giving clues, combined with biomarker evidence such as atrophy of the temporal lobe seen on magnetic resonance imaging or examination of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) showing alterations in amyloid-β or tau protein.