Subtypes of Ideopathic Normal pressure hydrocephalus

 
   Lead Investigator:    Alberto Serrano-Pozo
   Institution      :    Univ of Iowa
   E-Mail           :    aserrano1@mgh.harvard.edu
   Proposal ID      :    708



   Proposal Description:
   Idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) is a rare cause of dementia and     gait imbalance. There is considerable controversy regarding its pathophysiology     and even its nosology, primarily because prior single-center clinico-pathological     studies have found a significant burden of Alzheimer disease (AD)     neuropathological changes and cerebrovascular lesions in a high proportion of     patients with an iNPH diagnosis during life.       We postulate that iNPH is a syndrome with different causes rather than a disease.     We hypothesize that different phenocopies will be identifiable under the syndromic     diagnosis of iNPH, ie. an AD-like, a cerebrovascular-like, and a pure iNPH phenotype.     We will interrogate NACC data base to investigate the demographic characteristics,     vascular risk factors, neurological exam findings, neuropsychological profile, APOE     genotype and brain autopsy findings of subjects diagnosed with this condition in the     ADCs across the nation. We will investigate the existence of different subtypes of     iNPH by clustering and principal component analyses