Early Alzheimer's Disease: Sl... Video Transcript

Participants

, Alan Dengiz MD, Marc Lawrence Gordon MD, Norman Relkin MD, PhD

Summary

People with early Alzheimer's disease know that the condition gets progressively worse over time. Learn how some medications help to stabilize symptoms and slow this steady decline.

Webcast Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Many people with Alzheimer's disease, and their caregivers, share a common but mistaken belief that there's no medical hope.

ALAN DENGIZ, MD: We don't have a cure for Alzheimer's disease. That's for sure. We don't have absolute curative treatment. But we do have good medications that can really help to slow down the progression of the disease.

ANNOUNCER: For early-state Alzheimer's disease, the medicines are called cholinesterase inhibitors. Three approved products are commonly used: Aricept, Exelon and Reminyl. Another drug, called Namenda, can be useful later on, when Alzheimer's disease progresses.

MARC GORDON, MD: We do have good evidence that drugs currently available that we have the ability to slow the decline in function, decrease the loss of activities of daily living. We have some evidence that some of the medications may be effective at preventing the emergence or even improving the presence of psychiatric symptoms. And we certainly have evidence for cognition that we can stabilize cognitive function for periods of up to a year and certainly, we think, slow the decline of cognition thereafter.

ALAN DENGIZ, MD: The benefits of using these medications clearly are that patients do better for a longer period of time. These changes are subtle. It's often difficult for the physician, and sometimes even difficult for the family to really appreciate that there's an effect or a benefit, because unlike other diseases, where we're curing things or we're making marked improvements, the cholinesterase inhibitors in Alzheimer's disease really are slowing down the progression of the disease.

ANNOUNCER: Alzheimer's disease is a degenerative disorder of the brain that becomes increasingly common with advancing age. It is characterized by abnormal structures in the brain called senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, as well as by the progressive loss of brain cells.

Alzheimer's disease is also associated with decreased levels of a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine, in some areas of the brain.

The Alzheimer's drugs block an enzyme, which in turn slows the breakdown of the neurotransmitter. The side effects and optimal dose of these medications can differ in individual patients.

MARC GORDON, MD: The mechanisms of action are different between the various drugs and I think, personally, that leads to differential responses in different patients.

ANNOUNCER: While the benefits of these drugs may be subtle, the sometimes can make a big difference in families' lives.

ALAN DENGIZ, MD: If we can just keep people at a higher level of functioning longer, we can keep people home longer. We can keep them with their loved ones longer. It'll be a longer time before we have to think about putting them into assisted living or putting them into nursing homes.

ANNOUNCER: The drugs used in early-stage Alzheimer's disease can stabilize a patient. And stabilizing early may be better than stabilizing a patient after his or her disease has progressed.

MARC GORDON, MD: It's important to diagnose the disease in its earliest stages, because we do have evidence to suggest that people who are started on medication earlier on may do better in the long run than people who are treated later on.

ANNOUNCER: Side effects with the cholinesterase inhibitors can be disturbing to some patients. But usually, they are temporary.