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Alzheimer's Disease Confirmed by Cerebral Biopsy: a Therapeutic Trial with Cortisone and A.C.T.H.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2018

M. Sim  and
W. Thomas Smith
M. Sim
Affiliation:
United Birmingham Hospitals
W. Thomas Smith
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
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Extract

This paper describes treatment with cortisone and A.C.T.H. of two patients in whom Alzheimer's Disease (A.D.) had been confirmed histologically by cerebral biopsy.

A.D. is a progressive dementia which usually occurs between the ages of 40 and 60 years, and there is no known specific treatment. Intellectual deterioration, which progresses insidiously over a period of 2–10 years, leads to gross dementia, and the inevitable problems of care and supervision often necessitate removal to an institution. Histologically the disease is characterized by atrophy of cortical nerve cells and the presence within the cortex of argentophile plaques which are demonstrable by the silver impregnation techniques of Bielschowsky or von Braunmühl (see Fig. 1); these plaques have a mixed granular and fibrillary structure. The same silver methods also show irregular thickening and disorientation of the nerve cell fibrils, which form “tangles” and “loops” (see Fig. 2). Identical plaques and neurofibrillary changes are also seen in senile dementia, the term “senile plaque” being used in both diseases.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Journal of Mental Science , Volume 101 , Issue 424 , July 1955 , pp. 604 - 609
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1955 

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