BU, Brigham And Women’s Part Of National Landmark Alzheimer’s Disease Study

BOSTON (CBS) – Alzheimer’s dementia affects five million Americans and those numbers are growing exponentially. Now scientists around the country, including here in Boston, are launching a landmark study to try to stop the disease before it takes hold. Betty Simino recently lost her mother to Alzheimer’s and felt helpless as she watched her mother deteriorate over time. “Not being to help her,” explains Simino. “I could help her and do her fingernails and comb her hair and talk to her and hold her hand, but there was nothing I could do.” Now at the age of 71, Simino could be facing the same fate. Although she doesn’t have significant memory problems now, brain scans show that she, too, is a risk of developing Alzheimer’s dementia. “Number one, I don’t want to go through it,” says Simino. “But more importantly, I don’t want my family, my children, my grandchildren to have to deal with that.” “The A4 study is one of the most exciting studies, if not the most exciting study, in the history of Alzheimer’s Disease,” says Dr. Robert Stern, who oversees clinical research at Boston University’s Alzheimer’s Disease Center. He is referring to a first of it’s kind, multi-center effort to prevent Alzheimer’s dementia in people at risk. “Once brain tissue is destroyed, we can’t get it back, so if we wait too long into the disease, it may be too late to treat it,” explains Dr. Stern. In the A4 study, patients without significant memory ...
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Health Local News Seen On WBZ-TV Syndicated Local Watch Listen A4 Study Alzheimer's Disease Amyloid Boston University Brigham & Women's Hospital Doctor Mallika Marshall Protein Solanezumab Source Type: news