A new study with the participation of many international experts showed that Alzheimer’s disease was considered a separate disease was a mistake. There are at least six different cognitive symptoms, the assessment of which should not be reduced to one diagnosis. Because of this, methods of diagnosis and treatment are ineffective-instead of influencing the problem, doctors fought with ephemeral “disease”.
According to the leading researcher, Shubhabrat Mukerji, Alzheimer’s disease is similar to breast cancer – this is also a complex of diseases. And if it was possible to choose the drug against one of them, then clinical studies failed when the next patient had another problem. I had to re-study and rethink the conditions of 4000 patients to find out: in addition to the early and late Alzheimer, there are also diseases of the language, memory, brain executive and spatial-visual function.
In 39 % of patients, problems were found in all four new cognitive areas, but 27 % had sharp differences in assessing the state of memory – it was almost in order. The remaining patients were divided into small groups of 5-6%, in each of which alarming symptoms were observed only in two cognitive areas, but these pairs were everywhere. Scientists conducted a study of the patients of patients and, to their surprise, found 33 markers who clearly divided them into six cognitive domains.
This is not just a rethinking of the concept of Alzheimer’s disease, but a small revolution in medicine. Now we know about the existence of six ways of the development of the disease, each with its pronounced set of symptoms and a genetic “signature”, which allows you to expand subject research in new directions. And start diagnosing the disease and treat people several times more precisely than before.
Source — uw medicine