A Systematic Review of the Prediction of Brain Amyloid Status: Michael Weiner, MD

“[We hope to] redo the review to bring everything really up to date to the present; this is a field that has just dramatically changed in the last 18 months to 2 years, with the development of blood tests for Alzheimer's disease.”

Michael Weiner, MD, principal investigator, Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, and director, Brain Health Registry, sat down with NeurologyLive to discuss findings from a systematic review conducted to evaluate models that predict the status of amyloid-beta (Aß) plaques in the brain. Identifying the presence of Aß plaques and tau in the brain is crucial for patients with Alzheimer disease (AD), and the process has been bolstered since the publication of the systematic review with the introduction of blood tests as a biomarker for AD. 

Weiner, who is also professor of radiology and biomedical imaging, medicine, psychiatry, and neurology at the University of California–San Francisco, does not believe the findings of the study will be surprising to clinicians, as major predictors of AD were identified as age, familiar history, and patient complaints. Although, the introduction of blood tests as a predictor has changed the AD field, furthering the need for additional studies into the process’ potential. According to Weiner, following the advancement in the development of blood tests, he and his colleagues intend to recreate the systematic review in order to bring findings and analyses up to date. 

REFERENCE

Ashford, MT, Veitch, DP, Neuhaus, J, et al. The search for a convenient procedure to detect one of the earliest signs of Alzheimer's disease: A systematic review of the prediction of brain amyloid status. Alzheimer's Dement. 2021;17:866–887. doi:10.1002/alz.12253