Alzheimer’s Disease Essay - 1506 Words

Alzheimer’s Disease INTRODUCTION Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive degenerative disorder of insidious onset, characterized by memory loss, confusion, and a variety of cognitive disabilities. It is the major cause of dementia in the elderly and is characterized by the presence of neuropathologic lesions including: neurofibrillary tangles in the neuronal perikarya and in pyramidal neurons of the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex and neocortex, nucleus basalis of Meynert, and periaqueductal gray. Neuritic (senile) plaques often with a central or core deposition of amyloid within the plaque and in some cases with amyloid infiltration of blood vessel walls (amyloid angiopathy) and the adjacent perivascular neuropil; loss of neurons,†¦show more content†¦DIAGNOSIS Unfortunately the most accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is by postmortem examination of the brain. The disease itself is not well defined, and its varied yet subtle manifestations lend difficulty in distinguishing it from other nervous system diseases or dementia-causing diseases. The danger exists that appropriate therapy that might bring relief or even cure, might be withheld from some patients if their conditions are misdiagnosed. Because, even though no effective treatment for AD is available, there are useful therapies for various diseases that produce symptoms of dementia (4). The fact that AD usually develops later in life again complicates the boundaries of this disease. Because the process of normal aging is not completely understood, there are no consistent, established values of what constitutes normal cognitive impairment and memory loss with advancing years. Furthermore, the neurochemical changes, the neurophysiological changes, or the gross and fine anatomical changes that accompany normal aging are not understood well enough to provide a firm basis for determining abnormal changes. The brain of an 80 year old patient with AD may be difficult to distinguish from that of an age-matched normal patient without dementia. Also, some elderly patients have few or no senile plaques or neurofibrillary tangles. Even at earlier ages, the neurofibrillary tangles and senile plaques thatShow MoreRelatedAlzheimers Disease945 Words   |  4 PagesAlzheimer’s Disease Alzheimer’s Disease is a progressive neurological disease; it often attacks the brain tissues causing memory loss of one’s identity and regular behaviors. Statistics indicates that the rate of predicted people to get Alzheimer’s will increase briskly as time goes on. 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