DESCRIPTION

This curriculum has been developed to educate both experienced clinicians and trainees on the rapidly evolving landscape of Alzheimer’s Disease diagnosis and treatment.

Learning Objectives

• Identify common neurodegenerative conditions causing dementia and their pathologic features.
• Describe the Alzheimer’s Association criteria for diagnosing and staging AD and compare it with an International Working Group framework.
• Compare diagnostic frameworks: pathologic disease vs. clinical syndrome.
• Outline an algorithm for cognitive evaluation and screening.
• Describe common MRI and metabolic PET findings in AD and discuss diagnostic limitations.
• Identify appropriate clinical scenarios for amyloid and tau PET testing.
• Describe the strengths and limitations of AD fluid biomarkers compared to PET biomarkers and recognize factors that impact fluid biomarker interpretation.
• Identify perspectives on how blood-based biomarkers could be used to detect or rule out AD pathology.
• Explain the mechanism of action of anti-amyloid therapy and identify patients most likely to benefit from treatment.
• Recognize the risk factors for amyloid related-imaging abnormalities (ARIA).
• Review the two main clinical trials of lecanemab and donanemab and describe appropriate use recommendations and guidance for clinicians.
• Apply shared decision-making principles in discussing anti-amyloid treatments and best practice for communicating risks, benefits, and evidence.
• Recognize racial and ethnic disparities in dementia care and understand the challenges of applying clinical trial results to diverse populations.