Alzheimer's disease (AD)
Key Alzheimer's Facts
Alzheimer's is the most common type of dementia. It accounts for around 60-70% of cases of dementia.
- Alzheimer's is a progressive disorder which means symptoms develop gradually and become worse over time.
- The first noticeable signs of Alzheimer's disease are memory problems and at times confusion. Other symptoms may include disorientation, personality changes and problems with language and speech. This may include not using the right words in sentences.
- Alzheimer’s disease is named after Dr Alois Alzheimer’s. He identified an "unusual disease" which had affected one of his patients, who had symptoms such as memory loss and disorientation. When he looked at the brain of the patient following their death, he found various changes and damage in different parts of the brain.
What happens in the brain?
- Alzheimer's involves a build of up plaques in the brain knows as beta-amyloid plaques and tau.
- These plaques are like sticky clumps that form between brain cells. These get in the way of the brain cells communicating with one another and break connections, causing cell death.
- Tau proteins are like ropes within brain cells which help them to move molecules, in Alzheimer's these get tangled. This leads to important molecules not moving around in the cell, causing the cell to die.
Alzheimer's Dementia Overview
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Brain photo by Professor Seth Love
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