Imaging Amyloid in the Human Brain: A Promising Tool for Improved Early Diagnosis and Treatment Monitoring in Alzheimer`s Disease

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease has turned into one of today's most important medical and social challenges. Currently, the clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease can only be established after the onset of the first symptoms. However, widespread and irreversible neural damage has probably already occurred at this stage. Furthermore, currently available drugs for Alzheimer's disease only offer a symptomatic treatment that can delay the progression of symptoms, with no effect on the neurodegeneration itself. Many drugs currently being evaluated for disease modifying effects in Alzheimer's disease will probably show their greatest effect in very early, pre-dementia disease stages, before widespread neural damage has occurred. Therefore, novel positron emission tomography tracers for amyloid, one of the histopathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease, are currently under evaluation regarding their abilities for pre-dementia diagnosis and treatment monitoring. First studies suggest that these tracers are able to reliably detect amyloid pathology in vivo, and that amyloid imaging is a promising candidate for the purpose of an improved early diagnosis and follow-up of Alzheimer's disease. This article discusses recent findings in this area and their relevance for the early diagnosis and treatment monitoring in Alzheimer's disease.