Is Alzheimer's disease a homogeneous disease entity?
The epidemic proportions of dementia in old age are a cause of great concern for the medical profession and the society at large. It is customary to consider Alzheimer's disease (AD) as the most common cause of dementia, and vascular dementia (VaD) as being the second. This dichotomous view of a primary neurodegenerative disease as opposed to a disorder where extrinsic factors cause brain damage led to separate lines of research in these two entities. New biomarkers, particularly the introduction of modern neuroimaging and cerebrospinal fluid changes, have, in recent years, helped to identify anatomical and chemical changes of VaD and of AD. Nevertheless, there is a substantial difference between the two entities. While it is clear that VaD is a heterogeneous entity, AD is supposed to be a single disorder. Nobody attempts to use CADASIL as a template to develops treatment for sporadic VaD. On the other hand, early-onset AD is used to develop therapy for sporadic AD. This paper will discuss the problems relating to this false concept and its consequences.
Tel-Aviv University Medical School, Tel-Aviv, Israel, amoskor@post.tau.ac.il.
Amos D
AD
Korczyn
D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000145:classification* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans