Precocious Alterations of Brain Oscillatory Activity in Alzheimer's Disease: A Window of Opportunity for Early Diagnosis and Treatment

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of neurodegenerative dementia accounting for 50-80% of all age-related dementia. This pathology is characterized by the progressive and irreversible alteration of cognitive functions, such as memory, leading inexorably to the loss of autonomy for patients with AD. The pathology is linked with aging and occurs most commonly around 65 years old. Its prevalence (5% over 65 years of age and 20% after 80 years) constitutes an economic and social burden for AD patients and their family. At the present, there is still no cure for AD, actual treatments being moderately effective only in early stages of the pathology. A lot of efforts have been deployed with the aim of defining new AD biomarkers. Successful early detection of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) linked to AD requires the identification of biomarkers capable of distinguishing individuals with early stages of AD from other pathologies impacting cognition such as depression. In this article, we will review recent evidence suggesting that electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings, coupled with behavioral assessments, could be a useful approach and easily implementable for a precocious detection of AD.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; electroencephalography; mild cognitive impairment; oscillatory activity; recognition memory; spatial navigation memory.