Alzheimer's Disease
From Psy3241
Alzheimer's Disease is a form of dementia involving the progressive deterioration of psychological functions as a result of abundant loss of cortical and subcortical neurons. Alzheimer's Disease is the most common form of dementia which rises with increasing age and exceeds one new case per 100 in the 70-80 age group. The time of diagnosis is usually after age 65, as symptoms may not be acknowledged until this time. The time from diagnosis until death is usually about 7 years, and is equally distributed amongst men and women. There is evidence that Alzheimer's may effect the brain gradually for 5 decades before symptoms arise.
Diagnosis
The neurobehavioral and clinical criteria for all types of dementia include inabilities whilst learning new material or inability to recall past material accurately as well as impairment of at least one higher cognitive function. The patient may also develop aphasia, apraxia, or agnosia. These impairments must be significant enough to effect the patients daily life. A physical exam, medical history report, and laboratory tests are carried out to determine etiological relationships concerning dementia. The Demential of the Alzheimer's type (DAT, until recently, was the most common label for Alzheimer's diagnostics. Now, specialist dementia or memory units are more accurate diangnotics in the living patent for determining the presence of Alzheimer's Disease along with MRI brain scans.
Symptoms and Risk Factors
Patients with Alzheimer's disease often experience memory loss including aphasia, apraxia, or agnosia. Although the exact cause of Alzheimer's Disease is not yet known there are several causes that have been suggested. Some of these causes include: A slow virus, neurotoxins, oxidative stress with the formation of free radicals, brain trauma or injury, and a genetic predisposition to the disease. Alzheimer's disease is known to occur less in individuals who are highly educated and mentally and physically active.
Neuropathology
The neuropathology of Alzheimer's Disease includes the occurrence of neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid or senile plaques. Although neurofibrillary tangles are present in the majority of the elderly, they occur more abundantly in Alzheimer patients, especially in the hippocampi. The higher the abundance of tangles correlates with the increased intensity of symptoms in Alzheimer's patients.
