Monday, October 29, 2018

#Latest research on Molecular Biomedicine

|Molecular Biomedicine Latest Research

|New AUC published for lumbar puncture and spinal fluid analysis in Alzheimer's diagnosis|

Alzheimer's disease is commonly diagnosed by a thorough examination of physical health, medical history and assessment of memory, thinking and reasoning. Lumbar puncture, while not currently in routine clinical practice in the U.S., is anticipated to be a safe and cost-effective way to retrieve cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to test for biological markers of Alzheimer's disease, potentially delivering valuable diagnostic information to clinicians and their patients earlier in the course of the disease
Appropriate uses of lumbar puncture:
  • A patient has subjective cognitive decline (SCD) and is considered to be at an increased risk for Alzheimer's disease based on indicators that include a persistent decline in memory, younger onset age (>60), onset in the last 5 years and others. The decision to perform CSF biomarker testing in this case should be individualized and most strongly supported when the individual, family and clinician all are concerned about the patient's cognitive decline.
  • A patient has mild cognitive impairment (MCI) that is persistent, progressive and unexplained. MCI includes mild deficits on cognitive testing but no change in functional abilities.
  • A patient has symptoms that suggest possible Alzheimer's disease, meaning the dementia could be due to another cause.
  • A patient has MCI or dementia with onset at an early age (<65).
  • A patient meets core clinical criteria for probable Alzheimer's disease with typical age of onset.
  • A patient's dominant symptom is an unexplained change in behavior, such as delusions and delirium, and an Alzheimer's disease diagnosis is being considered.
The AUC includes suggestions from the workgroup on implementing the criteria in clinical practice. They recommend that CSF biomarker testing be done by dementia experts who can determine the appropriateness of the test, educate the patient and family about the benefits and risks, ensure the procedure follows established guidelines, and integrate the results into the patient's treatment plan









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