Alzheimer’s & Dementia | March 16, 2023

Thanapornsangsuth P, Booncharoen K, Luechaipanit W, Supharatpariyakorn T, Sarutikriangkri Y, Tangnimitchok S, Likitjaroen Y, Sukprakun C, Tepmongkol S, Hemachudha T. 

Alzheimers Dement. 2023

https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.13022

Abstract

Introduction

Despite the substantial accuracy of plasma p-tau in diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in research cohorts, data on real-life memory clinic patients are lacking.

Methods

Memory clinic patients at their early symptomatic stages were prospectively enrolled to undergo routine clinical assessment, plasma p-tau181 quantification (Simoa), amyloid and tau-positron emission tomography (PET). The diagnostic performance of plasma p-tau181, neurocognitive specialists, and regional tau-PET were compared head-to-head using amyloid-PET as the reference standard.

Results

Plasma p-tau181 has the area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 0.84 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.73–0.94), 0.80 (95% CI 0.64–0.90), 0.75 (95% CI 0.51–0.90), and 0.78 (95% CI 0.65–0.88) for detecting amyloid-PET positivity in early symptomatic patients, respectively. The AUC of clinical diagnosis and tau-PET were 0.70 (95% CI 0.56–0.85) and 0.88 (95% CI 0.79–0.97), respectively.

Discussion

Plasma p-tau181 also performed well in real-life memory clinic settings and its role in clinical practice is supported.