ABSTRACT
Alzheimer's disease (AD) families are often interested in having a definite diagnosis established and in making a contribution to research. When standard clinical approaches to the diagnosis are applied, neuropathologists are able confirm the diagnosis of AD in approximately 87% of the cases. Certain features seen grossly enable the neuropathologist to predict with reasonable certainty that the clinical diagnosis of AD was correct. Although careful assessment of the gross features of the brain is essential, the final neuro-pathological diagnosis of AD and many other dementias rests upon microscopic examination. In response to the need for a standardized neuropathology instrument for the evaluation of autopsy brains derived from patients clinically diagnosed as having AD and to facilitate pooling of meaningful data among centers, a task force was formed by the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease, a longitudinal multicenter study sponsored by the National Institute on Aging.
