Alzheimer's disease: part 2 – the present
| Title: | Alzheimer's disease: part 2 – the present |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Ricardo Nitrini |
| Source: | Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria, Vol 82, Iss 06, Pp 001-009 (2024) |
| Publisher Information: | Academia Brasileira de Neurologia (ABNEURO), 2024. |
| Publication Year: | 2024 |
| Collection: | LCC:Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry |
| Subject Terms: | Alzheimer Disease, Biomarkers, Cholinesterase Inhibitors, Memantine, Neuroimaging, Antibodies, Monoclonal, Doença de Alzheimer, Biomarcadores, Inibidores da Colinesterase, Memantina, Neuroimagem, Anticorpos Monoclonais, Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry, RC321-571 |
| More Details: | Based on my work as a clinical neurologist with more than 50 years of experience in caring for patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), I focus, in this review article, on the disease's two fundamental aspects for the doctor: diagnosis and treatment. The 1984 diagnostic criteria had been stable for more than a quarter of a century when it was replaced in 2011. Since then, there have been many discoveries, especially of biomarkers that have a heavy impact on the diagnosis of AD. Recently, AD biomarkers have become available in plasma, which certainly will cause a major change in the diagnosis of biological AD, a term that still needs care and information to society before being used in clinical practice. Three monoclonal antibodies against β-amyloid peptide have also been recently approved, and two of these have shown a small but statistically significant effect on clinical outcome. These monoclonal antibodies have had a greater effect on the reduction of amyloid plaques in the brain assessed by positron emission tomography (PET), and on the concentration of biomarkers in the cerebrospinal fluid (β-amyloid peptide with 42 amino acids and hyperphosphorylated tau protein) than in the neuropsychological and functional assessments. Even this small clinical effect will be encouraging for the development of new research, particularly helped by the greater ease of diagnosis and monitoring of the evolution of AD pathophysiology with plasma biomarkers. Recently, new diagnostic criteria for AD were presented by the Alzheimer's Association, causing controversy about their use in clinical practice. |
| Document Type: | article |
| File Description: | electronic resource |
| Language: | English |
| ISSN: | 0004-282X 1678-4227 0044-1791 00441791 |
| Relation: | https://doaj.org/toc/0004-282X; https://doaj.org/toc/1678-4227 |
| DOI: | 10.1055/s-0044-1791755 |
| Access URL: | https://doaj.org/article/23424097e6804555be559fda9cf3222e |
| Accession Number: | edsdoj.23424097e6804555be559fda9cf3222e |
| Database: | Directory of Open Access Journals |
| ISSN: | 0004282X 16784227 00441791 |
|---|---|
| DOI: | 10.1055/s-0044-1791755 |
| Published in: | Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria |
| Language: | English |