In vivo quantification of tau can be performed using tau-PET (PET: positron emission tomography). Tau-PET binds to insoluble neurofibrillary tangles, another core pathological feature of AD. Six stages that characterize tau pathology have been established through post-mortem studies1,2 and PET brain imaging.3 This illustration represents the stages of tau pathology measured by PET. Early stages are often accompanied by mild memory dysfunction; middle stages are accompanied by mild cognitive impairment; later stages are observed in individuals with AD dementia.
The figure is reprinted from Therriault J, et al. Nat Aging 2022;2(6):565–535. The content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Related content
Stroke, migraine, Alzheimer’s Disease and other dementias were among the top ten conditions that accounted for the greatest nervous system DALYs in 2021
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease and the leading cause of dementia worldwide, regardless of socioeconomic status.
Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe a state where an individual has lost the ability to carry out daily life activities independently because of cognitive impairment that is not due to an underlying psychiatric condition. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) refers to the abnormal presence of Aβ and tau proteins, which define AD among many other neurodegenerative diseases. Dementia -including dementia due to AD- is likely to be underestimated because of underdiagnosis and misdiagnosis.