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Alzheimer's Disease
Robert H. Wilkins, MD;
Irwin A. Brody, MD
Arch Neurol. 1969;21(1):109-110.
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| Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings. |
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ALZHEIMER'S original description of presenile dementia in 1907 showed the value of clinical-pathological correlation in psychiatry. With his close associate Franz Nissl, the German neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer (1864 to 1915) devoted his career to investigating the anatomical changes underlying dementia.1-3 In the course of these studies, he discovered the disorder now known as Alzheimer's disease, which is characterized clinically by presenile dementia and pathologically by cerebral atrophy, senile plaques, and neurofibrillary degeneration.
Alzheimer was not the first to describe senile plaques.4 These microscopic foci are often found in the brains of the elderly, and some degree of plaque formation seems to accompany normal aging. However, Alzheimer correctly recognized that the presence of senile plaques in large numbers was abnormal. The neurofibrillary changes, consisting of tangles of thick argentophilic fibrils within the cytoplasm of neurons, were new to Alzheimer. Although he considered them specific for presenile dementia, subsequent
. . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]
Author Affiliations
Durham, NC
From the Divisions of Neurosurgery and Neurology, Duke University Medical Center and the Durham Veterans Administration Hospital Durham, NC.
Footnotes
Submitted for publication Aug 5, 1968; accepted Aug 20.
Reprint requests to Division of Neurosurgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27706 (Dr. Wilkins).
Translation of: Über eine eigenartige Erkrankung der Hirnrinde. Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Psychiatrie und Psychisch-Gerichtlich Medicin 64:146-148, 1907. (Also Zentralblatt für Nervenheilkunde und Psychiatrie 30:177-179, 1907.)
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