Hampel Harald, Elhage Aya, Cummings Jeffrey, Blennow Kaj, Gao Peng, Jack Clifford R, Vergallo Andrea
Eisai Inc., Neurology Business Group, Nutley, New Jersey, USA.
Chambers-Grundy Center for Transformative Neuroscience, Department of Brain Health, School of Integrated Health Sciences, University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV), Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Neurodegener Dis Manag. 2022 Oct;12(5):231-239. doi: 10.2217/nmt-2022-0013. Epub 2022 Jul 22.
WHAT IS THIS SUMMARY ABOUT?: This is a plain language summary of an article published in . It explains how Alzheimer's disease is diagnosed. It also looks at whether a newer way to assess people with Alzheimer's disease could help improve how the condition is diagnosed, monitored, and treated.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?: Alzheimer's disease is a long-term progressive brain disease that leads to difficulties with thinking and memory. It is a progressive condition, which means it gets worse over time. Biological changes occur in the brain of people with Alzheimer's disease. This includes a build-up of toxic protein clusters called amyloid plaques and tau tangles, gradual damage to the brain cells (neurodegeneration), and brain shrinkage due to loss of neurons. It is often due to multiple factors and doctors usually diagnose Alzheimer's disease by looking at a person's symptoms and ruling out other causes of dementia. However, research shows that people diagnosed in this way do not always have the biological changes in the brain that are related to Alzheimer's disease. This means that some people may be misdiagnosed. Additionally, there may be a delay in the appearance of Alzheimer's symptoms, by which point changes in the brain may be severe. For example, people with Alzheimer's disease show biological changes in the brain, years before symptoms appear.
WHAT ARE THE KEY TAKEAWAYS?: An assessment of biological changes in the brain, by measuring substances that indicate disease progress (biomarkers), may offer a fuller picture of a person's Alzheimer's disease, how advanced it is, and which treatments are likely to work best. A recently developed classification scheme known as the AT(N) system provides a way to assess and describe the biological changes in amyloid (A), tau (T), and neurodegeneration (N) that occur in people with Alzheimer's disease. The goal is to include biomarker testing in clinical practice to help physicians and practitioners diagnose, monitor, and treat people with Alzheimer's disease more effectively. The AT(N) system is being used for various purposes in clinical studies, and has the potential to assist physicians and practitioners in early detection, accurate diagnosis, staging, and treatment selection for people with Alzheimer's disease.
本总结的内容是什么？：这是一篇发表于……的文章的通俗易懂的总结。它解释了阿尔茨海默病是如何被诊断的。它还探讨了一种评估阿尔茨海默病患者的新方法是否有助于改善该病的诊断、监测和治疗方式。
为什么这很重要？：阿尔茨海默病是一种导致思维和记忆出现问题的长期进行性脑部疾病。它是一种进行性疾病，这意味着它会随着时间的推移而恶化。阿尔茨海默病患者的大脑会发生生物学变化。这包括一种叫做淀粉样斑块和tau缠结的有毒蛋白质簇的积累、脑细胞的逐渐损伤（神经退行性变）以及由于神经元丧失导致的脑萎缩。它通常是由多种因素引起的，医生通常通过观察一个人的症状并排除其他痴呆原因来诊断阿尔茨海默病。然而，研究表明，以这种方式被诊断的人并不总是具有与阿尔茨海默病相关的大脑生物学变化。这意味着一些人可能被误诊。此外，阿尔茨海默病症状的出现可能会有延迟，到那时大脑中的变化可能已经很严重。例如，阿尔茨海默病患者在症状出现前几年大脑就会出现生物学变化。
关键要点有哪些？：通过测量指示疾病进展的物质（生物标志物）来评估大脑中的生物学变化，可能会更全面地了解一个人的阿尔茨海默病情况、病情的严重程度以及哪种治疗可能效果最佳。一种最近开发的分类方案，即AT(N)系统，提供了一种评估和描述阿尔茨海默病患者大脑中淀粉样蛋白（A）、tau蛋白（T）和神经退行性变（N）的生物学变化的方法。目标是将生物标志物检测纳入临床实践，以帮助医生和从业者更有效地诊断、监测和治疗阿尔茨海默病患者。AT(N)系统正在临床研究中用于各种目的，并且有潜力帮助医生和从业者对阿尔茨海默病患者进行早期检测、准确诊断、分期和治疗选择。
