From the New York Times, a package of articles about Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists now think it begins long before symptoms are apparent.

“Alzheimer’s disease may be a chronic condition in which changes begin in midlife or even earlier,” said Dr. John C. Morris, director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Washington University in St. Louis, where Ms. Kerley volunteers for studies.

But currently, the diagnosis is not made until symptoms develop, and by then it may already be too late to rescue the brain. Drugs now in use temporarily ease symptoms for some, but cannot halt the underlying disease.

Many scientists believe the best hope of progress, maybe the only hope, lies in detecting the disease early and devising treatments to stop it before brain damage becomes extensive. Better still, they would like to intervene even sooner, by identifying risk factors and treating people preventively — the same strategy that has markedly lowered death rates from heart disease, stroke and some cancers.

So far, Alzheimer’s has been unyielding. But research now under way may start answering major questions about when the disease begins and how best to fight it.

Also featured:

The risk factors: When both parents suffer dementia, children suspect it is also in their future

Coping with Alzheimer’s: Disease brings drastic changes to patients, and stress to family members

Testing for Alzheimer’s: In the absence of a gene that says ‘Yes’ or ‘No,’ the value of one that says ‘Maybe’ is questioned

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 26th, 2007 at 1:43 pm and is filed under alzheimer's, caregivers, families, research news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post