No longer knowing how to carry out everyday gestures, forgetting familiar faces and even one’s own past, such are the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease.
A promising alternative method
Based on the success of the deep brain stimulation method to combat the typical tremors of Parkinson disease, American surgeons carried out, last November, the first implantation in the United States of a pacemaker in the brain of a patient suffering from Alzheimer’s.
This system would allow stimulate memory of the patient and slow the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s disease. In a preliminary study in Canada in 2010, the devices were successfully implanted in six patients with Alzheimer’s disease. A second implantation in a patient is scheduled for December.
40 patients should benefit
“Recent failures in trials of drugs for Alzheimer’s disease such as those designed to reduce the build-up of beta-amyloid plaques in the brain have heightened the need for alternative strategies. This is a very different approach. , by which we are trying to improve the functioning of the brain mechanically. This is a whole new avenue for the treatment of a disease which becomes more frequent as the population ages, “explains Paul B. Rosenberg, associate professor of psychiatric and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University.
In total, around forty patients should benefit from this new procedure. Only patients with mild enough cognitive impairment that they can decide for themselves whether or not to participate will be included in the trial.