Treatment
There is no known cure for Alzheimer's. The death of brain cells cannot be reversed.
However, there are therapeutic interventions that can make it easier for people to live with the disease.
According to the Alzheimer's Association, the following are important elements of dementia care:
- effective management of any conditions occurring alongside the Alzheimer's
- activities and day-care programs
- involvement of support groups and services
Drug therapy
No disease-modifying drugs are available for Alzheimer's disease, but some options may reduce the symptoms and help improve quality of life.
Cholinesterase inhibitors that are approved for symptomatic relief in the U.S. include:
- Donepezil (Aricept)
- Rivastigmine (Exelon)
- Tacrine (Cognex)
A different kind of drug, memantine (Namenda), an NMDA receptor antagonist, may also be used, alone or in combination with a cholinesterase inhibitor.
Other therapy
The need for quality-of-life care becomes more important as the person becomes less able to live independently.
Results of a mouse study, published in Nature, suggested in 2016 that It may one day be possible to restore memories for people with early Alzheimer's.[medical news today]
Please allow me to respond succinctly, since there are still no effective ways of treating Alzheimer's disease. The reason for this situation lies in the lack of specific knowledge about the key mechanisms for the development of this neurodegenerative process. Beta-amyloid and tau-protein disrupt the functioning of neural networks in the brain. Inactive nerve cells begin to die. And most often only at this late stage clinicians diagnose Alzheimer's disease. In recent years, scientific articles have appeared, the authors of which are trying to use stem cells to fill the number of dead neurons. In fact, this is a situation where in this way clinical specialists try to increase the number and potential of "normal" neurons in the brain. But this is basically a palliative approach. It is necessary to find the mechanism of the disease development.
So called Alzeime disease is not once disease, it is post mortem, patohystological enitity. It are many different clinical demantia syndromas with deifferent causes and naturally with different therapy approach
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