Accurate and early diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease (AD)
with reliable and noninvasive methods is of great importance
for clinical practice as effective and specific antidementive
therapies become available. The aim of the study was to evaluate
the clinical relevance of event-related P300 in the early diagnosis
of AD. Thirty patients with AD, 26 patients with mild cognitive
impairment (MCI) from our Memory Clinic and 26 age-matched healthy
controls (HC) were studied with event-related P300 potentials.
Amplitudes of temporo-basal dipoles (TB-P300) were significantly
diminished in AD compared to HC and MCI. Furthermore, latencies
of temporo-superior dipoles (TS-P300) were significantly prolonged
in AD compared with HC. Sensitivity was 90.0% for the
differentiation of patients with AD from HC (specificity 79.1%)
using reduced TB-P300 amplitudes and prolonged TS-P300 latencies.
Similar results were found using Pz amplitudes as well as Fz
latencies. Our data suggest that TB-P300 amplitudes and TS-P300
latencies may be an accurate clinically available, nonexpensive,
noninvasive, and reliable marker for AD.