Interpretation of the new consensus on classification and diagnosis of posterior cortical atrophy / 中华神经科杂志

ABSTRACT

Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is a kind of neurodegenerative dementia. The core feature of the PCA includes progressive decline in visual processing and other posterior parietal-occipital cortex-related cognitive functions. Recently, neuroimaging features of PCA from magnetic resonance imaging/single photon emission computed tomography/ 18F-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computer tomography studies represent the typical characteristics of cortical atrophy, hypoperfusion, and hypometabolism in the posterior parietal-occipital cortex. The most common neuropathological changes of PCA are amyloid plaques deposition and neurofibrillary tangles in posterior cortex, while the molecular biomarkers are decreased amyloid β-protein 1-42 together with increased T-tau and/or P-tau in cerebral spinal fluid. From this point, PCA is also considered as an atypical form of Alzheimer′s disease (AD). However, individuals fulfilling the criteria for the core clinico-radiological PCA syndrome, can also fulfill the core clinical criteria for any other neurodegenerative syndrome, and represent negative AD-related pathophysiological biomarkers. Heterogeneity within the PCA syndrome and pathophysiological biomarkers prompt the PCA working group to establish a new consensus on PCA classification and diagnostic criteria, which is proposed for use in a number of different research contexts and the research of AD, atypical AD and related syndromes. This paper gives a brief introduction and interpretation of the newly proposed classification and diagnostic criteria of PCA.