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Joel S. Ross, MD |
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« Dimebon a failure in the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease patients | Home | Amyloid imaging of the future may soon come to area memory centers »
Change Alzhiemer’s Disease to “Amyloid Associated Memory Impairment” (AAMI)
By Joel Ross | March 15, 2010
My readers have had the opportunity to learn about amyloid and its effects on the brain (see article dated …..) It appears this toxic, sticky material builds up in the brains of patients destined to develop memory loss perhaps as much as one or two decades before any memory lapses/loss is noted by the patient or loved one.
What this means is that the earlier we recognize the toxic effects of this poison called amyloid, perhaps better treatment outcomes can be realized
We use the term dementia of the Alzheimer’s Disease type to describe a heretofore irreversible loss of memory and functional status with eventual loss of complete ability to care for oneself. This is the last stage of what has been referred to as Alzheimer’s Disease.
What is the proper diagnosis to make for those who still can take care of their daily needs, still safely drive but are very forgetful, or repeat the same questions many times per day, or have a tendency to forget the day or date or even forgetting previously familiar faces and names? Are these people to be diagnosed as Mild Cognitive Impairment, Age Associated Memory Impairment, Benign Senesent Memory Loss, Prodromal or Pre-Alzheimer’s Disease? The answer in my opinion is NO. Why? Simply because we are unable to distinguish such forgetfulness that seems “benign” from the forgetfulness which progesses in to the world of dementia of the Alzheimer’s Disease type.
What I propose is to use a new term to describe patients with memory loss and amyloid deposits in the brain as having “Amyloid Associated Memory Impairment”.
It does not have the negative connotation as does Alzheimer’s Disease or dementia of the Alzheimer’s Type. Furthermore it accurately describes what many scientists (including myself) believe is a major factor leading to the memory loss: ie, amyloid build up in the brain.
I realize that there are the Alzheimer’s Assocation and the AlzForum as well as the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America that might have some issues in changing their names, but I would say that Dr. Alois Alzheimer never intended to have his name eponymically attached to this disorder. Rather, since he was the first to ever find the amyloid plaques in the brain (along with what is referred to as “tangles”), perhaps we should use the amyloid title for the condition.
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