A new form of dementia

[MichaelB]

An interesting article from BBC. It looks like they’re making some advances in identifying different types of dementia. This will (hopefully) lead to a more specific and productive research. https://www.bbc.com/news/health-48092570

One expert called it the most important dementia finding in years. The condition, limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, or Late, shares similar symptoms to Alzheimer's, but it is a distinct disease, the journal Brain reports.
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Late appears to affect the "oldest old" - people over 80 - according to the work that looked at evidence from thousands of post-mortem results.

One in five in this age group has it, meaning the public health impact of the disease will be large, say the researchers.
Unlike Alzheimer's, it tends to cause a more gradual decline in memory, they believe.
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Late appears to be linked to the accumulation of a certain protein, TDP-43, in the brain, while Alzheimer's is linked to two other brain proteins - amyloid and tau.

If there is indeed a form of dementia that is currently misdiagnosed as AD that progresses more slowly and later in life, it means that even after a diagnosis, the option of remaining at home remains viable.

 

[Bestwifeever]

An interesting article from BBC. It looks like they’re making some advances in identifying different types of dementia. This will (hopefully) lead to a more specific and productive research. https://www.bbc.com/news/health-48092570


If there is indeed a form of dementia that is currently misdiagnosed as AD that progresses more slowly and later in life, it means that even after a diagnosis, the option of remaining at home remains viable.

My relative in her early 80s probably has this. Her speech has disintegrated over the last several years; she reads and plays scrabble with the best of them, and has no other problems taking care of herself, but cannot really talk, and the tests show no neurological issues.

Before Alzheimers became a diagnosis, dementia was just "senility" or "hardening of the arteries"; after Alzheimers became well known, it seems all dementia is now called Alzheimers by the general public.

 

[Sarah S]

TDP-43 is already being studied for its roles in ALS and FTD. I hope that this will lead to more focus to the benefit of all three groups

 

[googily]

TDP-43 is already being studied for its roles in ALS and FTD. I hope that this will lead to more focus to the benefit of all three groups

My mother died of a combination of both FTD and ALS, which was brutal but mercifully short. She had bulbar ALS, so she lost the ability to remember words (and her impulse control) thanks to the FTD and the ability to actually speak (and eventually the ability to swallow) thanks to the ALS. And given that my brother now has an incredibly rare neurological disorder (so rare that if I described it I'd out myself), I am watching these recent brain research developments with keen self-interest.