Dumas Annette, Destrebecq Frédéric, Esposito Giovanni, Suchonova Dominika, Steen Frederiksen Kristian
European Brain Council, Rue d'Egmont 11, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium.
Aging Brain. 2023 Sep 2;4:100093. doi: 10.1016/j.nbas.2023.100093. eCollection 2023.
Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of dementia, is a progressive and debilitating neurodegenerative condition which robs people of their memory, their independence, their relationships and, ultimately, their lives. It affects close to 7 million people in the European Union (EU) alone. The detection and diagnosis of AD relies on a system that remains focused on the late stage of the disease, despite a better understanding of the disease progression. Clinical practice and healthcare systems' readiness to detect, diagnose and treat the disease effectively are still lagging. The use of biomarkers (cerebrospinal fluid tests (CSF) and positron emission tomography scans (PET)), which are central to a diagnostic assessment for people with AD symptoms, as well as relevant diagnostic facilities are under-utilised. PET imaging is expensive and of limited availability, and CSF sampling may be considered invasive. The European Brain Council's 'Rethinking Alzheimer's disease: Detection and diagnosis' White Paper has looked at the barriers to early diagnosis and how the healthcare systems infrastructure for detection and diagnosis of AD need to be transformed in order for people with AD to benefit from innovative solutions once they become approved for use.
阿尔茨海默病（AD）是最常见的痴呆形式，是一种进行性且使人衰弱的神经退行性疾病，它剥夺人们的记忆、独立性、人际关系，最终还会夺走他们的生命。仅在欧盟（EU），就有近700万人受其影响。尽管对疾病进展有了更好的了解，但AD的检测和诊断仍依赖于一个仍聚焦于疾病晚期的系统。临床实践以及医疗保健系统有效检测、诊断和治疗该疾病的准备情况仍很滞后。生物标志物（脑脊液检测（CSF）和正电子发射断层扫描（PET））在对有AD症状者的诊断评估中至关重要，但相关诊断设施未得到充分利用。PET成像费用高昂且可用性有限，而脑脊液采样可能被认为具有侵入性。欧洲脑理事会的《重新思考阿尔茨海默病：检测与诊断》白皮书探讨了早期诊断的障碍，以及为使AD患者一旦创新解决方案获批就能从中受益，AD检测和诊断的医疗保健系统基础设施需要如何转变。
