Alzheimer's disease: Ameliorating symptoms

Today, treatment can ameliorate many of the cognitive and behavioral symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Managing outpatient behavioral problems involves cooperation of responsible caretakers, targeting specific unwanted behaviors, and considering intercurrent illness, pain, and sensory impairment. In implementing therapies, physicians must consider the side effects of drugs that can be given to older patients with frequent comorbidities and a prominent deficiency of cholinergic neurotransmitter systems. A new focus of research involves delaying or preventing disease onset. Through a better understanding of inflammatory mechanisms, apolipoprotein E, amyloid deposition, and trophic factors, future therapies may lessen the impact of AD on the aging.