Monika Bružaitė¹

¹Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania

Abstract

Aim: To review the scientific literature on the symptoms, risk factors, diagnosis, treatment, and future treatment options of Alzheimer’s disease.

Methodology: Search, review and analysis of scientific sources were performed. Publications were searched in English using „PubMed” database. There were selected publications discussing Alzheimer’s disease, its symptoms, diagnostic and treatment options which were published during 2017-2021. The keywords used in the search were: Alzheimer’s disease, diagnosis, treatment, dementia, β-amyloid.

Conclusions: Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease mainly characterized by 2 things: extracellular amyloid-β accumulation and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain. The disease most often affects the elderly in short-term memory impairment, progressive dementia, and cognitive impairment. Treatment for Alzheimer’s disease is currently symptomatic and two classes of medications are available. Many studies are underway to slow or stop neurological degeneration, affect the course of the disease, but there are no validated therapies to modify the disease.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, diagnosis, treatment, dementia, β-amyloid.