RNS: Memory Loss Research, July 2009
TIME: 2:53
URL: http://www2.med.umich.edu/prmc/media/newsroom/details.cfm?ID=1207
U-M Health Minute: Today’s top health issues and medical research
Number of patients with dementia on the rise
Studies under way to help understand the disease and offer more effective treatment
Suggested lead: By the year 2050, about 30 million Americans are expected to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. Experts in the field are trying to determine if sophisticated imaging equipment can help predict the development of the disease. Here is Andi McDonnell with more . . .
At 81, Alberta Sabin’s mind is not as sharp as it used to be, and she knows it.
Some of the most frustrating aspects of memory loss, she says are the frequently misplaced items and forgotten names and appointments.
“I have trouble with remembering names and the most frustrating is when they are names of people that I know real well and I can’t bring the name to the surface. Another thing that’s frustrating is that I keep a calendar there, I write down all coming activities and the times and everything and even when I have it written down and I have checked my calendar the first thing in the morning I have forgotten to go to whatever it was I was supposed to be at.”
It is that frustration that motivated Sabin to participate in University of Michigan sponsored research designed to better diagnose and treat dementia before it escalates.
Roughly 50 percent of people who reach 85 will become demented. By age 100, the number spikes to 60 percent. Of those who develop dementia, roughly 60 percent will prove to have Alzheimer’s disease. It’s predicted that the current number of patients with Alzheimer’s disease in the United States is roughly 5 million. By the year 2050, it will grow to about 30 million, presenting a significant financial burden to the healthcare system.
Dr. Sid Gilman, (M.D.), director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at University of Michigan Health System, and who conducts research with Sabin and others in her community, tells us . . .
“The Michigan Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center has an interest in these patients because we have an opportunity to involve them in research. The research includes our imaging studies for the diagnosis of dementia to detect the form of dementia that a particular memory loss will take, or for people who have memory loss who will never develop a dementia but have the normal age associated memory loss. The studies will include both diagnostic imaging studies and clinical evaluations and also therapies.”
Gilman explains . . .
“The University of Michigan is at the very forefront of studies with imaging of the brain to detect the amount of beta-amyloid present in the brain, to detect the changes in glucose taken up and used by the brain and also the prediction of developing Parkinson’s disease, which may be related to the dementia that occurs at times with Parkinson’s disease. Michigan, therefore, has been a leader in predicting the course of the disease when there is early memory or other cognitive loss.”
Andi McDonnell, U-M Health System News
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