Alzheimer's disease: Revising Definition

The Lancet Neurology, Volume 9, Issue 11, Pages 1118 - 1127, November 2010

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doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(10)70223-4Cite or Link Using DOI

Published Online: 11 October 2010

Revising the definition of Alzheimer's disease: a new lexicon

Prof Bruno Dubois MD a , Prof Howard H Feldman MD b c d, Claudia Jacova PhD b, Jeffrey L Cummings MD e, Prof Steven T DeKosky MD f, Pascale Barberger-Gateau MD g, André Delacourte PhD h, Prof Giovanni Frisoni MD i, Prof Nick C Fox MD j*, ProfDouglas Galasko MD k, Prof Serge Gauthier MD l, Prof Harald Hampel MD m, Gregory A Jicha MD n, Kenichi Meguro MD o, John O'Brien DM p, Prof Florence Pasquier MD q, Prof Philippe Robert MD r, Prof Martin Rossor MD j, Prof Steven Salloway MD s, Marie Sarazin MD a, Leonardo C de Souza MD a, Prof Yaakov Stern PhD t, Pieter J Visser MD u v, Prof Philip Scheltens MD v

Summary

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is classically defined as a dual clinicopathological entity. The recent advances in use of reliable biomarkers of AD that provide in-vivo evidence of the disease has stimulated the development of new research criteria that reconceptualise the diagnosis around both a specific pattern of cognitive changes and structural/biological evidence of Alzheimer's pathology. This new diagnostic framework has stimulated debate about the definition of AD and related conditions. The potential for drugs to intercede in the pathogenic cascade of the disease adds some urgency to this debate. This paper by the International Working Group for New Research Criteria for the Diagnosis of AD aims to advance the scientific discussion by providing broader diagnostic coverage of the AD clinical spectrum and by proposing a common lexicon as a point of reference for the clinical and research communities. The cornerstone of this lexicon is to consider AD solely as a clinical and symptomatic entity that encompasses both predementia and dementia phases./.../