Donepezil, Vitamin E, AND no, removing amalgams is not mentioned!
From: Joel M. Eichen, D.D.S. (joeleichen_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 07/19/04
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Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2004 07:00:26 -0400
Study: Drug may delay Alzheimer's onset
Aricept appears to slow conversion from milder memory loss by an
average of six months. Also, Vitamin E seemed to have no effect.
By Stacey Burling
Inquirer Staff Writer
For the first time, a drug has been shown to slow the onset of
Alzheimer's disease in people with a milder type of memory loss that
often precedes the deadly, memory-destroying disease.
The drug - donepezil or Aricept - slowed conversion from mild
cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's by an average of six months. But,
after three years, those who had taken the drug were as likely to have
Alzheimer's as those who hadn't.
A study leader called Aricept's effect "modest" and said it was too
early to decide whether doctors should prescribe it for people with
mild cognitive impairment.
To the surprise of some Alzheimer's experts, the study also found that
Vitamin E, which many people take in an effort to ward off dementia,
had no effect. A previous study found that Vitamin E had some benefit
for people who have Alzheimer's disease.
Most important, Alzheimer's experts said, the research is proof that
it is possible to alter the course of Alzheimer's disease in its early
stages.
"It's basically the first indication that an intervention can modify
the progression from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's
disease," said Neil Buckholtz, chief of the National Institute on
Aging's dementias of aging branch.
Information about the study was released yesterday at the Ninth
International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders,
a meeting that has attracted more than 4,500 scientists to
Philadelphia. The Alzheimer's Association, which sponsors the
conference, said the results of the study were among the most
anticipated in the five-day meeting.
Because Alzheimer's damages the brain so severely, many researchers
are trying to figure out who is most likely to get it and how to stop
it early. "Who wants to take somebody who's had Alzheimer's disease
for 10 years and make them have it for 15? Nobody," said Claudia
Kawas, a professor of neurology at the University of California,
Irvine.
Ultimately, the goal is to find a treatment that staves off dementia
for years or stops it entirely, said Marcelle Morrison-Bogorad,
associate director of the National Institute on Aging. This study, she
said, "is not where we want this to end up, but it's the beginning of
the beginning."
Mild cognitive impairment is often, but not always, a precursor of
Alzheimer's, a disease that experts believe starts many years before
patients are sick enough to be diagnosed. Although there is no single
definition for it, mild cognitive impairment generally means that
patients have more trouble with memory than would be expected for
someone their age but function normally otherwise. Forgetting where
you put your car keys is a typical problem of aging. Repeatedly
forgetting important appointments is not.
During the study, which included 769 patients, 13 percent of those
with mild cognitive impairment progressed to Alzheimer's each year,
compared with 1 percent to 2 percent of people without that diagnosis,
according to the Alzheimer's Association. About 4.5 million people in
the United States have Alzheimer's disease.
Patients who took Aricept were less likely to develop Alzheimer's
during the first 18 months of the three-year study. After that, there
was no statistically significant difference between any of the groups;
all ended up getting Alzheimer's at the same rate.
Researchers don't know yet whether people who took Aricept will
progress through the stages of the disease any differently from those
who didn't, said Ronald Petersen, a Mayo Clinic neurologist who was
one of the leaders of the 69-center trial.
The study was financed by the National Institute on Aging; Pfizer Inc.
and Eisai Inc., companies that comarket Aricept; and DSM Nutritional
Products, which donated Vitamin E.
Although the best clinical practice decisions come from the results of
many studies, Kawas said, many people who come to her clinic with a
diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment have already been prescribed
Aricept, and "everybody is on Vitamin E."
William Thies, vice president for medical and scientific affairs for
the Alzheimer's Association, said he doubts that the study will have
much immediate impact on the use of Vitamin E.
"A lot of people are going to take it just because they're worried and
they have limited options," he said.
He and other experts said it's too early to decide whether people
should start taking Aricept before they are diagnosed with
Alzheimer's. Thies said he would guess many people would want it, even
though the benefit appears small.
"The desire for therapy... is very, very great," he said. "... It's a
disease that breeds a great deal of desperation."
The National Institute on Aging is now financing seven prevention
trials, including one testing common painkillers and one of ginkgo
biloba, which, like Vitamin E, has antioxidant properties.
Morrison-Bogorad said that such trials are extraordinarily expensive -
about $7 million a year - because they require large numbers of
patients and take a minimum of seven years.
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