Saturday, April 12, 2003

Treatment for Alzheimer's Without Medication A very different approach to Alzheimer's - without medication. According to Wired, a shunt implanted in the skull of a patient with Alzheimer's "could be the first treatment that actually fixes what's broken in the brain rather than simply masking symptoms of the debilitating disease." The device, called a CogniShunt, stops proteins suspected of causing the dementia associated with Alzheimer's from reaching the brain. The CogniShunt works by filtering out beta amyloid and tau. The shunt filters these proteins out of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and a small tube carries them to the peritoneum (the lining of the abdominal cavity), where they are processed. Normally, the brain replenishes approximately 600 ml of CSF in a day but in Alzheimer's patients the brain is unable to absorb the amyloid and tau and replenishes only about 150-200 ml of CSF. The shunt drains the CSF, from the brain at the rate of about a drop every minute. The biggest concern of the researchers is draining too much CSF from the brain - that can result in excruciating headaches for the patient and even possibly causing a subdural hematoma. So far, clinicians have implanted 143 devices as part of the product's first major tests administered at clinics nationwide. Preliminary results of the study look promising. Twelve Alzheimer patients with the shunt showed no progression of dementia over a 12-month period. Patients without the shunt progressed. These results,however, should be viewed cautiously since studies are preliminary and much more testing needs to be done. "Researchers are optimistic about the results of the CogniShunt studies because even if the device doesn't become an Alzheimer's treatment, it will likely lead to a better understanding of this mysterious disease.They know that Alzheimer's patients have high levels of amyloid and tau. However, they're not sure how they contribute to dementia."   1:50:04 AM    comment []

Caffeinol - A New PossibleTreatment for Strokes From Medpundit Caffeinol: A drug for treating strokes that combines two popular beverages - coffee and alcohol - is showing some promise: Researchers from the University of Texas Houston Medical School gave caffeinol to 23 male and female stoke patients with an average age of 71. They found they were able to give the patients lower doses of the drug than animal studies had suggested, while still achieving the same blood levels of caffeinol which had been shown to offer protection in rats. In those tests, an artery supplying blood to the brain was blocked, mimicking what happens in an ischaemic stroke. It was found the amount of brain damage was reduced by up to 80% if caffeinol was given within three hours. Further research will now be carried out to test the drug's effectiveness in humans. Caffeine is an active ingredient in many migraine therapies. It's supposed to improve blood flow to the brain. And alcohol? It does relax the types of muscles that make up artery walls, so it could theoretically increase blood flow to the brain, too. It isn't ready for real-world use, though. This study only looked at the safety of the drug, not its effectiveness, and it was only in a very small group of people. But, if it pans out, it would be the first drug to help reduce stroke damage once it occurs. Stay tuned. 12:46:31 AM    comment []

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