Dementia, What’s New?

Dementia.  You and I have heard about this and also may have experienced this disease first hand but how much do we understand and what is new in the area of research?

Dementia is actually the umbrella term for a set of symptoms with five common manifestations.  These include:

• Alzheimer’s Disease
• Vascular Dementia
• Frontotemporal Dementia
• Lewy body Dementia
• Young-onset Dementia

You’ll find that many of the symptoms also are common with changes from aging. Forgetfulness, difficulty with speech and communicating and writing clearly.  Additionally, people with dementia often have personality changes too.

There is some promising news on the horizon.  On the research side, The University of California, Berkeley has a theory they are working on an approach that would stop brain cells from being killed. It is dying brain cells that is a factor in dementia.

On the treatment side, you may have heard of a new drug approved by the FDA last year. It was developed by a Japanese Company and U.S. Biogen.  The name is Leqembi and is a potential treatment for those afflicted.  Currently, the cost is very high so the hope is that medicare will cover it.

Additionally, many studies are being done on mice so there is quite a bit of research so we can be hopeful that the future holds a light for those with this very difficult disease.

Private Home Health Care understands the difficulty for patients with the disease and for their caregivers.  We are hopeful that research will continue to come up with treatments and ways to slow or even stop the onset of this disease.