A neurologist's personal battle against Alzheimer's disease
Two important things happened this week. On the Fourth of July, my granddaughter Emily got her first ride in a canoe. She was thrilled. The other important thing that happened this week was the FDA...
Last March on this blogsite, I described evidence that chronic laxative use can increase the risk of getting dementia. The cause of this increased risk was thought to involve disruption of the gut microbiome, the...
After years of failed trials, two and possibly three anti-amyloid monoclonal antibodies have shown efficacy at removing beta-amyloid from the brain of subjects with mild Alzheimer’s disease. Two of them, lecanemab and donanemab, have...
There are now two anti-amyloid monoclonal antibodies that appear to be effective in slowing the progression of cognitive impairment in people with mild Alzheimer’s disease. The benefit may be small, 27% for lecanemab and...
Yesterday Eli Lilly issued a press release summarizing positive results of the TRAILBLAZER-ALZ 2 Phase 3 study showing that donanemab significantly slows cognitive and functional decline in people with early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease. Donanemab is unique...
Early in my career as a neurologist, probably about 1990, I was asked to consult on a 62-year-old, previously healthy woman who had had a large brain hemorrhage. She had no apparent risk factors...
My mother was an avid book collector. As a teen, I would browse the book shelves in our home looking for interesting nuggets. One of my favorite finds was The Importance of Living by the Chinese...
Over the last ten years or so, I have noticed increasing trouble understanding what people are saying to me, especially if there are several people speaking at the same time, like at a family...
Early in my career as a general neurologist, there was no way to accurately make a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease in a living patient. The only way then to know for sure that a...
Today the FDA granted accelerated approval of the anti-amyloid monoclonal antibody lecanemab, now going by the trade name Leqembi. I have mixed feelings about this. Lecanemab is the only disease-modifying drug so far to...
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