Use of cerebrospinal fluid in diagnosis of dementia

Abstract Dementia constitutes a diffuse category of neurological diseases causing cognitive dysfunction, behavioral disturbances, and functional abnormalities. The diagnosis of dementia is made essentially on clinical criteria, but the clinical point of view may be supplemented by the use of biomarkers. The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers constitute a useful diagnostic tool in diagnosis of dementia and neurodegenerative disorders. Accumulating evidence suggests that the core CSF biomarker profile of Alzheimer disease (AD) (low Abeta1-42 amyloid peptide CSF levels and increased total and phosphorylated protein tau CSF levels) strictly reflects the neurophysiology of AD. Moreover, other biomarkers may be studied in other dementia syndromes such as vascular cognitive impairment, frontotemporal dementia, and synucleinopathies.