"New Alzheimer’s Definition And The Clinician" - Roger Sergel
The National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association came out with a new definition of Alzheimer’s disease based on biomarkers. It’s intended solely for research purposes, potentially including recruitment for clinical trials – but is not meant for clinical diagnosis. Samuel Gandy, MD, PhD, professor of neurology and psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and associate director of Mount Sinai Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center said, “Application of this definition will cause the estimates of the prevalence of AD to skyrocket. I think that the lay public penetration of the notion that there is a ‘silver tsunami’ that will bankrupt and cause enormous misery to millions of families. I do not see any upside to driving up the ‘scare factor.’” Mary Sano, PhD, director of the Alzheimer’s disease research program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai said, “To date, there is no evidence that early intervention is beneficial. Further at a certain age, pathology may never lead to symptomatology so the value is again unknown. It is an important question but that is not the same as an answer and there are many conditions in which pathology does not correspond to symptomatology.”
- Samuel Gandy, MD, PhD, Professor, Neurology, Psychiatry, Associate Director, Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- Mary Sano, PhD, Associate Dean, Clinical Research, Professor, Psychiatry, Director, Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai