Has the management of Alzheimer's disease changed over the past 100 years?

摘要

Alzheimer's disease is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder currently affecting an estimated 25 million people worldwide, a figure that is rapidly increasing and affects both the developed and the developing worlds.The disease is characterised by memory impairment, prominent psychiatric symptoms, and behavioural disturbances, which result in difficulties with activities of daily living. The cause of Alzheimer's disease is largely unknown and treatment is directed towards symptomatic improvement of memory and other cognitive functions, and control of behavioural disturbances. 100 years ago, working in Frankfurt, the psychiatrist and pathologist Alois Alzheimer described his patient Auguste D (figure), a woman who developed dementia in her 50s and died on April 8,1906. The disease was eponymised by Kraepelin.2 To mark this anniversary, and the presentation of the Auguste D case by Alzheimer on Nov 3, 1906 in Tubingen, Germany, we present a summary of Alzheimer's original treatment plan with commentaries by clinicians on what current treatment options would be available were she to present now.