Reanalysis of the first case of Alzheimer's disease

When a disease becomes as important as Alzheimer's dementia, there is a nat ural interest in its medical history and in the origin of the underlying di sease concept. Key to understanding Alois Alzheimer's views on the disease, which was named after him, are the histological sections of the cases he s aw. This histological material was rediscovered in Munich in 1992 and 1997 (Neurogenetics 1997, 1 :73-80; 1998, 1 :223-228). An extensive neuropatholo gical and molecular genetic analysis of the tissue is currently being carri ed out. The present article summarizes the history of the rediscovery and p rovides an analysis of the neuropathology of Alois Alzheimer's first case, Auguste D.