Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers in Diagnosing Alzheimer’s Disease in Clinical Practice: An Illustration with 3 Case Reports

Abstract

Analysis of the brain specific biomarkers amyloid β42 (Aβ42) and total tau (t-tau) protein in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has a sensitivity and specificity of more than 85% for differentiating Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) from non-demented controls. International guidelines are contradictory in their advice on the use of CSF biomarkers in AD diagnostics, resulting in a lack of consistency in clinical practice. We present three case reports that illustrate clinical practice according to the Dutch and European guidelines and portray the value of CSF biomarker analysis as an add-on diagnostic to the standard diagnostic workup for AD.

Keywords

• Aβ42
• Tau
• Cerebrospinal fluid
• Dementia
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Diagnostics