Tau imaging: Early progress and future directions

Abstract

Use of selective in-vivo tau imaging will enable improved understanding of tau aggregation in the brain, facilitating research into causes, diagnosis, and treatment of major tauopathies such as Alzheimer's disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal syndrome, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and some variants of frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Neuropathological studies of Alzheimer's disease show a strong association between tau deposits, decreased cognitive function, and neurodegenerative changes. Selective tau imaging will allow the in-vivo exploration of such associations and measure the global and regional changes in tau deposits over time. Such imaging studies will compris..