Alzheimer's Disease and other forms of Dementia
Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia. It accounts for 60 to 80 percent of all dementia cases. Symptoms include memory loss and a decrease in cognitive abilities.
Age-related conditions are on the rise
As the number of individuals worldwide over the age of 65 greatly increases (predicted to rise from 381 million to 823 million by 2025), age-related conditions can be expected to increase as well.
Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB), Vascular Dementia (VaD), and other stroke-related disorders, are among these age-related conditions expected to increase. Without effective treatment, the number of persons with dementing illnesses will quadruple in the next 50 years.
A need for effective treatment
Numerous medications developed within the last two decades (targeting amyloid accumulations) fail to improve the clinical symptoms of AD.
For example, in August 2010, Eli Lilly halted clinical trials of a gamma secretase inhibitor due to lack of effect on cognitive function. While this pharmaceutical was apparently effective in reducing amyloid deposits in the form of plaques, subjects showed marked worsening of cognitive function.
More recently, Aducanumab was FDA-approved amongst intense controversy. This infusion medication has been shown to reduce amyloid, but at the time of FDA approval, it was not clear if it made patients clinically better. Moreover, the drug causes edema, swelling, and bleeding in the brain in some patients. The cost is roughly $56,000 and the benefit is questionable, and several ethical concerns have been raised in the medical community.
So, in essence, there are no effective pharmaceutical treatments for Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia diseases so mitigative and palliative care are the best options for patients. NuBrain brings a revolutionary new treatment option. Harnessing infrared light in a unique way to penetrate to the brain without loss of necessary energy to activate BDNF and neuroplasticity.
Hope through early diagnosis
Early diagnosis is an extremely important first step in delivering mitigative care in dementia. The sooner the problem is recognized and treatment is implemented, the slower the degenerative process will be. Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is a potential precursor to dementia.
We utilize the following diagnostic options at NuBRAIN HEALTH to aid in early detection:
- Neuroimaging (SPECT)
- Neurological exam
- Psychometric testing
- Computerized psychological testing
- Lab testing to evaluate any potential contributing illnesses
Laser Unattenuated Multi-Watt Infrared Therapy (LUMIT) activates the brain’s own repair mechanisms in a powerful way never before harnessed in medicine. Multi-Watt infrared laser is able to penetrate scalp and skull and deliver unattenuated healing to the brain.
Neuroimaging, particularly SPECT neuroimaging with quantitative analysis, plays a critical role in the early diagnosis of these disorders with an accuracy range in the 80th percentile (Henderson, 2013). Moreover, it shows us what type of dementia a patient may have (whether Alzheimer’s or another type).
Figure: Example of SPECT scan in a case of severe Alzheimer’s disease. C,D,E Horizontal, coronal, and sagittal tomograms, respectively, show decreased perfusion of the bilateral parietal cortices (white arrows), bilateral temporal cortices (blue arrows) and the posterior cingulate gyri (red arrow). The color scale is scaled relative to the patient’s mean cerebral perfusion. Mean blood flow (72%) is in yellow. Color shifts occur at approximately every 0.5 SD (3%) relative to the patient’s mean. F,G) 3-D representation of SPECT scan data showing right lateral, left lateral (F), and inferior views (G). In the 3-D representations the asymmetry is much better seen with greater involvement of the right parietal and temporal lobes. H) The patient’s data is compared to a normative database (N = 68) using Segami Inc. Oasis software. A map of statistically significant differences has been generated. Here, the color scale indicates gray for areas that do not differ significantly from the normative database. In contrast, areas of green, light blue, and dark blue represent areas of more than 2, 3, and 4 SD below the mean perfusion of the normative database, respectively. Statistically significant increases in perfusion are illustrated in the red color scale. The color scale is the same as in Figure 2D. Areas of relatively decreased perfusion are much more evident. The hypoperfusion of the posterior cingulate gyri (red arrows) is much better demonstrated. The severely decreased function of the parietal and temporal cortices is clearly evident. (Pavel, Henderson, DeBruin, and Cohen, Frontiers in Neurology, V13, 2022).
Progression mitigation
Because mitigative care is so crucial for dementia diseases such as Alzheimer’s, we employ the following treatment options:
- LUMIT for improved memory and cognitive function
- LUMIT for potential slowing of disease progression
- Serial SPECT imaging to measure disease progressions
Research demonstrates the neuroprotective and regenerative properties of LUMIT (Johnstone 2016) and early evidence shows that infrared light treatment can prevent neuronal death and atrophy in Alzheimer’s disease animal models.
SPECT scan can detect disease years before clinical symptoms are evident.
Early Fronto-temporal dementia
Figure: A representative low quality 99mTc-HMPAO perfusion SPECT scan demonstrates poor technique with the inclusion of extracranial structures. The scan was read in greyscale and interpreted as a normal scan. C) The same patient was rescanned with proper technique. Decreased perfusion in the posterior frontal and temporal cortices can be appreciated when viewed using the Ubiq40 color scale. The color scale is scaled relative to the patient’s mean cerebral perfusion. Mean blood flow (72%) is in yellow. Color shifts occur at approximately every 0.5 SD (3%) relative to the patient’s mean. D) The patient’s data is compared to a normative database (N = 68). A map of statistically significant differences can be generated using the Oasis software by Segami, Inc. Here, the color scale indicates gray for areas that do not differ significantly from the normative database. In contrast, areas of green, light blue, and dark blue represent areas of more than 2, 3, and 4 SD below the mean perfusion of the normative database, respectively. Statistically significant increases in perfusion are illustrated in the red color scale. Decreased perfusion in the bilateral temporal cortex and bilateral posterior frontal cortex, but with sparing of the anterior cingulate gyri, can be appreciated. The findings are consistent with mild cognitive impairment of the frontal-temporal variant and the patient showed consistent findings on neuropsychological assessment.
Early Alzheimer’s dementia