Categories


Pathology

The post-mortem neuropathologic evaluation includes a uniform structured assessment of AD pathology, cerebral infarcts, Lewy body disease, and other pathologies common in aging and dementia. The procedures follow those recommended by the National Alzheimer's Disease Coordinating Center (NACC). Pathologic diagnoses of AD use NIA-Reagan and modified CERAD criteria, and the staging of neurofibrillary pathology uses Braak Staging.

Subcategories

Alzheimer's disease

Pathologic indices and diagnoses of Alzheimer's disease

A score Amyloid beta plaque score based on Thal plaque phase (4 levels)
Braak stage Semiquantitative measure of neurofibrillary tangles
B score NFT stage (4 levels), derived from Braak Stage
CERAD score Semiquantitative measure of neuritic plaques
C score Neuritic plaque score (4 levels), derived from CERAD
Global AD pathology burden Global burden of AD pathology based on 5 regions
AD neuropathologic change (4 levels) AD neuropathologic change based on NIA-AA criteria - 4 levels
AD neuropathologic change (2 levels) AD neuropathologic change based on NIA-AA criteria - 2 levels
NIA-Reagan diagnosis of AD - OLD NIA-Reagan Diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease - 4 levels (none to high likelihood)
NIA-Reagan diagnosis of AD (dichotomous) - OLD Presence of AD based on NIA-Reagan diagnosis criteria - dichotomous

Beta-Amyloid

Immunohistochemical Beta-amyloid

Diffuse plaque burden Diffuse plaque summary based on 5 regions
Neuritic plaque burden Neuritic plaque summary based on 5 regions
Amyloid density (8 regions) Amyloid density after square root transformation
Amyloid - OLD Overall amyloid level - Mean of 8 brain regions

Neurofibrillary tangles

Semiquantitative and quantitative measures of neurofibrillary tangles (NFT)

Neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) Semi-quantitative summary measure from 5 brain regions
Tangle density (8 regions) Tangle density after square root transformation
PHF Tau Tangle Density - OLD Quantitative summary measure from 8 brain regions

Lewy body/PD

Nigral, limbic, and neocortical Lewy bodies as identified on sections stained with alpha-synuclein

Lewy Body disease Pathologic diagnosis of Lewy body diseases - 4 stages
Lewy bodies (7 regions) Presence of Lewy bodies in 7 regions (includes amygdala)

Vascular - Infarcts (Presence of)

Presence (yes vs no) of vascular infarctions

Presence of one or more gross chronic infarcts Cerebral Infarctions - Binary - Gross-Chronic-Any Location
Presence of one or more chronic microinfarcts Cerebral Infarctions - Binary - Micro-Chronic-Any Location
Presence of one or more chronic infarcts Cerebral Infarctions - Binary - Chronic-Any Size/Location

Vascular - General measures

Measures of vascular disease pathology

Cerebral atherosclerosis Cerebral Atherosclerosis Rating - 4 levels (None - severe)
Cerebral amyloid angiopathy Cerebral amyloid angiopathy - 4 stages
Arteriolosclerosis Arteriolosclerosis - 4 stages

Hippocampal sclerosis

Neuronal cell loss and gliosis in the hippocampus

Presence of hippocampal sclerosis Presence of hippocampal sclerosis in mid-hippocampus

TDP-43

TDP-43: Hyper-phosphorylated, ubiquitinated and cleaved transactive response (TAR) DNA-binding protein 43

TDP-43 stage TDP-43 pathology - 4 stages (8 regions)

Autopsy - General

General measures collected during autopsy such as time from death to autopsy procedure

Post-mortem interval Time interval in hours from time of death to autopsy