Once approved by the professional staff of CFAN, the patients registered in CFAN and their family members go to the Xuan Wu Hospital or other designated hospitals for detailed clinical and laboratory examinations.
The contents of clinical research are:
1. Clinical examination and psychometric assessments
Present medical history, past medical history, results of physical examination, and neurological examination should be recorded. A complete set of neuropsychologcial assessments will be performed. The site staff should try to invite more family members to participate.
2. Haemospasia
Draw blood from cubital vein for examination of blood routine, biochemistry, AD diagnostic biomarkers and genetic gene.
The results of blood test and gene test will be sent to the subjects and/or their legal representatives, and will keep secret from other family members.
3. Cerebral spinal fluid examination
Cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) examination is critical for the diagnosis of FAD. The detection of CSF biomarkers such as Aβ and tau concentration will be useful for the diagnosis of prodromal AD.
4. Brain magnetic resonance imaging
The branch centres of CFAN will perform advanced brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for patients, which is of great value for the diagnosis, differential diagnosis and prediction of prognosis of FAD.
5. Brain position emission tomography
Fluorodeoxyglucose position emission tomography (FDG-PET) can reflect the metabolic level of brain, which will provide important evidence for the diagnosis, differential diagnosis, treatment decision, and evaluation of drug efficacy. Amyloid PET is an advanced and accurate method to detect amyloid deposition in the brain, which is of great value for the early diagnosis of AD.