Medial Temporal Lobe Atrophy Increases the Specificity of Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers in Alzheimer Disease with Minor Cerebrovascular Changes.

Background: Although cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers and medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA) contribute to the diagnosis of Alzheimer disease (AD), they may not be specific. Relatively little is known about how they correlate with each other.Purpose: To identify the validity of the radiological linear measurements of brain atrophy in AD diagnosis by examining the correlation with CSF biomarkers and by examining if specificity could be improved in classification of AD from controls, when the linear measurements are combined with the CSF biomarkers.Material and Methods: 59 controls (20 male/39 female, age 73±8 years), 162 pure AD patients (49/113, 74±7 years), and 86 AD patients with minor cerebrovascular changes (CVC) (31/55, 77±5 years), aged between 52 and 94 years, were recruited from the Malmo Alzheimer Study. AD patients were subgrouped into “pure AD” and “AD + CVC” in order to clarify the possible influence of CVC on atrophy or CSF biomarkers in AD patients. Abeta42, T-tau, and P-tau in CSF were ...