Treatments for Alzheimer's Disease Essay

Now the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s is made by ruling out other causes for signs and symptoms. The patient and family members may be asked questions about overall health, past medical problems, ability to carry out daily activities, and changes in behavior and personality. The medical team may conduct tests of memory, problem solving, attention, counting, and language. A CT scan will show shrinking of the cerebral cortex, however this is not shown in the early stages. A PET scan and MRI provide structural and metabolic information about the brain. An electroencephalography can detect slower than normal brain waves. However, none of these diagnostic tests is specific to AD. The diagnosis is made by validating mental decline. Research now is focused on molecular neuroimaging technologies that can detect biologic evidence of AD before there are structural brain changes. Genetic testing to identify early-onset familial type is

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder and the leading cause of dementia in people above the age of 65. In 1901, Alois Alzheimer identified the first case of this disease and discovered the pathological condition of dementia that bears his name. AD is a progressive disease, the most common early symptom is short-term memory loss. As the disorder advances, individuals have problems with language, motivation, mood and long-term memory. In the final stages, the patient is complete loss of daily living activities.

First, Alzheimer’s disease is first described by Dr. Alois Alzheimer’s in 1906, and it is named after him. Moreover, in 1968 cognitive measurement scales were discovered, therefor, researchers were allowed to measure

     Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive disease of the brain, which is characterized by a gradual loss of

Also, along with Alzheimer’s, there are other diseases such as Parkinson’s which show no improvement and are a huge liability to the health care system. A lot of research is ongoing since ages but no drug is so far available which can cure such a disease. AD occurs due to progressive loss of the neural cells, which causes loss of memory, which might end up as fatal. Recent advances in the research have found the AD occurs to loss of mitochondrial function and mis-folded proteins. Currently six drugs have been approved in the United states for AD. All the drugs have shown moderate improvement in behavioral and functional measures in the

     Imagine waking up one morning and you cannot remember where you are or your own child’s name. This could be a direct sign that you or a family member has Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease is a form of dementia, which means that it affects certain functions of the brain such as memory, logic, and everyday bodily functions. This disease was first described by a doctor named Alois Alzheimer in 1906. He discovered unusual growths of fibers in the brains of woman that had died from an unusual mental illness (National Institute, 1995).

In 1984 the criteria for diagnosing Alzheimer’s was developed by the Alzheimer’s Association. These three levels of diagnostic certainty were: Possible, Probable, and Definitive. In the Possible AD level, symptoms were not typical, but other disorders were ruled out. For example, it could be diagnosed if the patient had another illness, as well as with symptoms of dementia. The next level is Probable AD. In this level of criteria, the diagnostic evaluation excludes other causes of diagnostic decline. In addition to this, the historical pattern of functional and behavioral disturbances was noted. With these techniques, doctors were able to diagnose with an 85-95% accuracy. The last level was called Definitive AD. Within in this level, an autopsy was performed and the examined brain tissue revealed

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is part of a group of diseases called dementia and it is the most typical type of dementia, making up about 60-80% of total dementia types. This disease is becoming more and more prevalent as people’s lifespan increases, because of the ever-advancing medical field. Additionally, the total number of Alzheimer’s cases is expected to double over the next 20 years. Most generally, it affects people over the age of 65, but can affect people as young as the age of 40 and is the 5th leading cause of death for the elderly. Once diagnosed, a patient normally lives 1 to 10 years and in some unusual cases, up to 20 years.

of Americans with AD will reach around 15 million by 2050. Neglecting to give a cure to this malady will have enormous effects on human enduring, as well as monetarily and socially (The Alzheimer's Project, 2009). Consequently, curing AD is of quick essentialness. A number of medications proposed to ease off or stop the malady are presently in clinical trials as far and wide as possible. The essential trials of AD – the infection changing medications, are hostile to amyloid medicines that are attempting to abate its movement

AD is the most common devastating neurodegenerative disorder and the cause of dementia affecting mainly elderly population. It is found that 24.3 million people have dementia today. The cause of AD is still controversial but the main pathology is deposition of Amyloid Plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the cerebellum. The most of currently existed medications aim to clear these depositions to delay the progression of the disease but it can't completely cure it.The pathology of AD starts to develop over a decade prior to the symptoms, so we have to direct our efforts to detect the disease early and control the modifiable risk factors to prevent the development of AD later in old age or delay the onset of AD by 5-10 years. The most important

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder and a nonreversible physical and mental condition and typically occurs within the aging population, death is imminent. (Pointer, Williams, Isaacs, Knickman, & Barr, 2007) The life expectancy for those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease is 20.4 at the rate per 100,000 people (p. 17).

There are different variations of AD, a rapid onset and late onset, both having the same ending result of the destruction of neurons in the brain. AD appears as inflammation in the brain that can affect memory, speech and motor skills. Unfortunately, the only way of diagnosing AD is through post-modem evaluation. Dementia and AD are tracked by certain memory tests scores and then ranked to determine the disease scale; however, this does not act as a diagnosing factor. From an anatomy standpoint, a blood brain barrier surrounds and protects our brain, which in some theories, is very close to the

AD was first identified in 1906, however, the research only began in the past 30 years. Research into AD and the exact physiological changes that trigger the development of AD still remain an unidentified mystery. There are some links they are those rare, inherited forms caused by a known genetic mutation. (Dekkers, W., & Marcel, O. R. 2006) Those links are part of family history those who have a parent, or sibling with Alzheimer 's are at a higher percentage of developing AD. (Dekkers, W., & Marcel, O. R. 2006) AD is not a regular part of growing older, however, it is one of the highest risk factor for the disease. Currently, there are millions affected by AD worldwide and the number is expected to rise affecting over 106 million by

AD is the most common type of dementia and causes problems with memory, behavior, and thinking. Symptoms typically worsen over time and the disease is most prevalent in the elderly. There are currently around 5 million people in the United States with AD and the number increases annually in tandem with the aging population. Although there are currently no treatments for Alzheimer’s, the market for drugs treating symptoms of the disease (like memory loss) is around $3 billion. This market could grow significantly if a disease-modifying treatment entered the space.

The neurobiology of AD is well understood now and the search for better treatment options is still on. This provides an opportunity for more research on integrated approach using existing therapies, traditional and alternative medicines with newer treatments and potential candidates for management of AD.