CHAPTER 5
Forgetting Things? - Mild Cognitive Impairment Due to AD
PART 1
Starting to Forget
As we age, it’s normal to start forgetting things. For instance, we can’t recall names or numbers as quickly as we used to. But when these lapses start to become obvious, both to ourselves and to those around us, we may be experiencing the first symptoms of dementia, called mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to Alzheimer’s disease. Patients with MCI may forget recent events such as conversations or events and have trouble performing more than one task at a time. They may also take longer to complete tasks that were easy for them to get done before. Symptoms are mild and often subtle; changes in memory, attention, planning, or language skills do not affect social or occupational function. Knowing people well, or seeing them over time, will help determine if these changes are notable or progressive.PART 2
How do doctors detect MCI?
There is no definitive test for MCI, but doctors rely on a combination of factors to pinpoint those who might be experiencing this first stage of dementia. Persistent changes in brain functions involving memory, attention, language, or learning, reported by either the patient or a family member, strongly suggest MCI, but it’s also important that the changes aren’t profound enough to affect the patient’s ability to function independently yet.PART 3
How does MCI relate to Alzheimer’s?
Not all patients who develop MCI go on to develop Alzheimer’s. If you were to look at a pool of patients with MCI due to AD, about 15% will progress on to AD per year. Doctors are working on ways to identify this small proportion of people at highest risk.
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theVisualMD Wishes to Thank our Scientific Collaborators:
- Jeffrey Cummings, MD
Director, Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center of Brain Health, Las Vegas - Stephen Salloway, MD, MS
Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry Alpert Medical School of Brown University - Philip Scheltens, MD, PhD
Director, Alzheimer`s Center VU Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Reisa Sperling, MD
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital Harvard Medical School - Rudolph E. Tanzi, PhD
Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School Director, Genetics and Aging Research Unit, MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease Massachusetts General Hospital - Audrey Chun, MD
Medical Director, Martha Stewart Center for Living Mt. Sinai Medical Center, New York - Bradley Hyman, MD, PhD
John B Penney Jr Professor of Neurology Harvard Medical School Director, Massachusetts Alzheimer Disease Research Center Massachusetts General Hospital - University of Pittsburgh Amyloid Imaging Group
- John H. Morrison, PhD
Dean of Basic Sciences and the Graduate School of Biological Sciences Professor, Department of Neuroscience, Director, Neurobiology of Aging Laboratories Mount Sinai School of Medicine - Brad Dickerson, MD
Harvard University - Mony John de Leon
Professor, Director Center of Brain Health, Department of Psychiatry, Langone Medical Center, New York University - Ramon Figueroa, MD
Georgia Health Sciences Health System
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