ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE

Alzheimer's disease is the most important cause of dementia, but its c ause remains unknown. Amyloid plays a dominant role in many current th eories of the pathogenesis, although it is still not clear if its depo sition is the trigger or the result of other processes causing cell de ath. An association between sporadic and familial late-onset Alzheimer 's disease and polymorphisms of apolipoprotein E located on chromosome 19 suggests a new genetic model of this condition. Head trauma and su bstandard education have been consistently associated with increased r isk, whereas the use of anti-inflammatory agents may reduce the risk o f developing Alzheimer's disease. Functional imaging may have develope d to the point of making an important contribution to our understandin g of the neural networks impaired in Alzheimer's disease, but it has n ot yet provided a diagnostic marker. The limited benefit of tacrine as an approved form of treatment is still being defined, but no new ther apies have emerged.