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REDEFINING Alzheimer's Disease
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LZHEIMER'S DISEASE (AD) is the most common cause of dementia, affecting 10 percent of people over the age of 65 and nearly half of all people over the age of 85. Currently, as many as 5.1 million Americans are
affected, according to the National Institute on Aging. Characterized in the brain by amyloid plaques and neurofibril-
lary tangles, AD currently has no cure. However, symptoms can be prevented, delayed or managed, disease progression can be slowed and — according to Brian Appleby, MD — brain health can be optimized, even in patients in the later stages of AD. Dr. Appleby is a board-certified geriatric psychiatrist
specializing in Alzheimer's disease and dementia who joined the staff at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in July of 2011. A graduate of Georgetown University Medical School, Dr. Appleby completed residency and fellowship training in Geriatric Psychiatry at The Johns Hopkins Hospital where he remained until 2011 and served as co-director of the Frontotemporal Dementia and Young-Onset Dementia Clinic and assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. MD News asked Dr. Appleby to discuss new approaches to diagnosing and treating Alzheimer's disease. Here's what he said.
Brian Appleby, MD, is a board-certified geriatric psychiatrist specializing in Alzheimer's disease and dementia at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF CLEVELAND CLINIC
