Cerebrospinal Fluid Tau Protein Levels and F-18-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography in the Differential Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease

Yakushev, Igor; Bartenstein, Peter; Siessmeier, Thomas; Hiemke, Christoph; Scheurich, Armin; Lotz, Johannes; Fellgiebel, Andreas und Mueller, Matthias J. (2010): Cerebrospinal Fluid Tau Protein Levels and F-18-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography in the Differential Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease. In: Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, No. 3: pp. 245-253

Abstract

Aims: In this study, we aimed to compare cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of total tau (t-tau), phosphorylated tau (p-tau(181)) and positron emission tomography with F-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG-PET) in the differential diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) under clinical conditions. Method: In a cross-sectional, blinded, single-center study, we examined a sample of 75 unselected memory clinic patients with clinical diagnoses of dementia of Alzheimer type (DAT; n = 24), amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI; n = 16), other dementias (n = 13) and nondemented controls (n = 22). Discriminative accuracy, sensitivity and specificity were calculated and compared using ROC analyses. Results: p-tau(181) and FDG-PET were comparable in separating DAT from controls (sensitivity: 67 vs. 79%; specificity: 91% for both) and patients with other dementias (sensitivity: 71 vs. 79%; specificity: 100% for both). The sensitivity of p-tau 181 in differentiating MCI patients from controls was significantly (p < 0.05) superior to that of FDG-PET (75 vs. 44%) at a comparably high specificity (82 vs. 91%); t-tau measures were less accurate in all analyses. Conclusions: FDG-PET and CSF p-tau(181) levels are able to discriminate DAT in heterogeneous and unselected samples with a high accuracy. CSF p-tau(181) might be somewhat superior for a sensitive detection of patients with MCI. Copyright (C) 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel

• Item Type: Journal article
• Form of publication: Publisher's Version
• Faculties: Medicine
• Subjects: 600 Technology > 610 Medicine and health
• ISSN: 1420-8008
• Alliance/National Licence: This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.
• Language: English