Alzheimer's Disease: History, Stages, Diagnosis and Its Future

Abstract

Background: Alzheimer’s is a brain disease in which brain cells responsible for memory loss and other intellectual functions starts to die. It can also be said that there is a loss of connections in nerve cells of brain. Although scientists have not yet found out the main underlying cause of this disease, there are several other factors that have been studied which leads to alzheimer’s. Some of them include tangling of TAU protein, plaques formed by amyloid, shrinkage in brain tissue etc. It is the 6th leading cause of death in US and 3rd in older people. It was discovered by a psychiatrist Alzheimer’s, who researched on a patient Auguste D. He noticed dementia, aggressiveness and some other mental illness in her and then studied her brain after her death. Alzheimer’s is asymptomatic in early stages, that is why we cannot start the treatment in early stage. The disease can be identified once a person start getting symptoms. But until then the damage has already begun and progressed. We do not have a cure for this disease yet. It can only be delayed by treating the symptoms and by therapy. But the scientists are carrying out different clinical trials such as detangling of TAU protein etc to make this disease fully curable.