Diagnostic Support Provided by the Neuropathology Core

Alzheimer’s disease can be diagnosed with certainty only through examination of brain tissue after death. Although Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia in the United States, many other diseases can also cause dementia and many of these cannot be distinguished from Alzheimer’s disease without autopsy examination of the brain. Our Alzheimer Disease Center seeks permission from families of all ADC patients and normal controls for autopsy examination after death. These examinations provide important information about the exact nature of the dementia to our clinicians, to families of the patients, and to scientists seeking to better understand and to provide treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. Characterization and diagnosis of postmortem brain tissues is accomplished using standard gross and histological examinations, appropriate special stains, and immunohistochemical procedures.