Alzheimer
Páginas: 3 (685 palabras)
Publicado: 25 de julio de 2011
Alzheimer's disease - new drugs and research look hopeful
Friday, 5 November 2004 05:30 PM
This month witnessed the discovery of two drugs that may help in treating Alzheimer's disease. On theother hand, it has been announced that a large-scale study will be launched next April with the aim of better understanding this disease.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) affects approximately 4.5 millionAmericans. It is considered the most common cause of dementia in western countries. Approximately 10% of all persons over the age of 70 have significant memory loss; in more than half, the cause is AD.AD is a progressive dementia (that is the dementia keeps getting worse).
The most important risk factors for AD are old age and a positive family history. The frequency of AD increases with eachdecade of adult life to reach 20 to 40% of the population over the age of 85. A positive family history of dementia suggests a genetic cause of AD.
Mechanism
AD is characterized in the brain by abnormalclumps (amyloid plaques) and tangled bundles of fibers (neurofibrillary tangles) composed of misplaced proteins. Three genes have been discovered that cause early onset (familial) AD. Other geneticmutations that cause excessive accumulation of amyloid protein are associated with age-related (sporadic) AD.
The management of Alzheimer's disease is difficult and frustrating, because there is nospecific treatment and no way to slow the progression of the disease. The primary focus is on long-term amelioration of associated behavioral and neurologic problems. Currently there are fiveFDA-approved drugs that may benefit some people in the early or middle stages of the disease. Tacrine (Cognex) may alleviate some cognitive symptoms. Donepezil (Aricept), rivastigmine (Exelon), and galantamine(Reminyl) may keep some symptoms from becoming worse for a limited time.
"In recent studies, the benefit of these medications were shown to be more effective in the early and middle stages of...
Friday, 5 November 2004 05:30 PM
This month witnessed the discovery of two drugs that may help in treating Alzheimer's disease. On theother hand, it has been announced that a large-scale study will be launched next April with the aim of better understanding this disease.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) affects approximately 4.5 millionAmericans. It is considered the most common cause of dementia in western countries. Approximately 10% of all persons over the age of 70 have significant memory loss; in more than half, the cause is AD.AD is a progressive dementia (that is the dementia keeps getting worse).
The most important risk factors for AD are old age and a positive family history. The frequency of AD increases with eachdecade of adult life to reach 20 to 40% of the population over the age of 85. A positive family history of dementia suggests a genetic cause of AD.
Mechanism
AD is characterized in the brain by abnormalclumps (amyloid plaques) and tangled bundles of fibers (neurofibrillary tangles) composed of misplaced proteins. Three genes have been discovered that cause early onset (familial) AD. Other geneticmutations that cause excessive accumulation of amyloid protein are associated with age-related (sporadic) AD.
The management of Alzheimer's disease is difficult and frustrating, because there is nospecific treatment and no way to slow the progression of the disease. The primary focus is on long-term amelioration of associated behavioral and neurologic problems. Currently there are fiveFDA-approved drugs that may benefit some people in the early or middle stages of the disease. Tacrine (Cognex) may alleviate some cognitive symptoms. Donepezil (Aricept), rivastigmine (Exelon), and galantamine(Reminyl) may keep some symptoms from becoming worse for a limited time.
"In recent studies, the benefit of these medications were shown to be more effective in the early and middle stages of...
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