Ongoing
With the advent of disease-modifying therapies for Alzheimer’s disease, the need for accurate and cost-effective diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is very high. As the first step in the patient journey, the general practitioner is of great importance in the diagnostic process. Accurately diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease in primary care is challenging, because early signs of this disease frequently go unrecognized and other forms of dementia may be misdiagnosed as Alzheimer’s disease.

Stepped care approach

CANTATE-PC is an abbreviation for “Clinical Implementation of Amyloid Neurodegeneration and Tau testing in Primary Care’’. The CANTATE-PC study aims to take a first step towards identifying the utility of a blood test that consists of a panel of 5 blood-based biomarkers for AD (Amyloid-beta42/40 ratio [Ab42/40], hyperphosphorylated tau [p-tau]), Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein [GFAP] and Neurofilament light [NfL]) in primary care. We want to assess the relation between the blood test to detect Alzheimer’s disease and diagnosis and patient management. The aim is to explore the feasibility of a stepped care approach based on this blood test, tailored to the specific needs of the primary care.

CANTATE

This observational study is part of a larger project (CANTATE) in which we among others investigate whether certain factors (such as kidney function) influence the diagnostic value of the blood test and what the potential added value of this blood test is in the memory outpatient clinic. If the first evaluation in primary care is successful, we aim to follow-up by a second wave of prospective evaluation. This allows us to adjust the cut-offs that we developed in the second line care to the primary care, and to develop the right tools to support the decision making for the general practitioner. CANTATE is supported by the Alzheimer Drug Discovery Foundation.

For more information about CANTATE(-PC) or if you are a general practitioner and are interested to join our project, please contact us via CANTATE@amsterdamumc.nl