Correspondence Regarding: Thinking Outside the Box: Alzheimer-Type Neuropathology That Does Not Map Directly Onto Current Consensus Recommendations. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 2010;69:449-54

Abstract

Analyzing 1,677 cases with antemortem diagnosis of dementia from the National Alzheimer's Coordination Registry, Nelson et al (1) recently commented on the cases that fall outside the National Institute on Aging and Reagan Institute recommendations. Of the cases, 82.4% fell into diagnostic “boxes” within the rubric of the consensus recommendations. Two specific categories were considered: 1) “tangle-intensive” cases, with the highest density of neurofibrillary tangles but only moderate density of neuritic plaques (9.4% of the overall). These cases were considered more likely to be designated as “high likelihood” that dementia was …