Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a serious medical and social problem of our time, while remaining the most common cause of dementia in the elderly. The leading symptom in the clinical picture of the disease is a progressive loss of memory with further development of behavioral disorders. In the early stages of AD, patients are mostly managed by neurologists and differential diagnosis is carried out with a variety of neurodegenerative diseases. The authors present clinical criteria of AD diagnosis and consider diagnostic possibilities in the predementia stage using biological markers. With this purpose, modern concepts of the etiology and pathogenesis of AD and genetic aspects of pathology are considered. Contribution of many environmental factors to the initiation and progression of the disease process is evaluated. Mechanisms of cerebral amyloidosis and its characteristic neurological manifestations are considered.