NEW COGNITIVE TREATMENT FOR EARLY ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

描述(来自申请)：认知康复已显示为 有效治疗各种神经系统疾病，包括 脑外伤和中风。直到最近，一直缺乏 一项研究调查了这种治疗方式的有效性 AD患者受损，因为假设任何收益都会被抵消 通过与退行性疾病过程相关的渐进性恶化。 然而，有数据表明，诸如间隔等技术 检索“和其他依赖于程序性知识和 内隐记忆、运动学习和认知支持的提供 信息的编码和检索都可能对以下方面有所帮助 阿尔茨海默病患者。 最近推出的胆碱酯酶抑制剂，如多奈哌齐(Aricept) 已经被经验证明可以减缓AD的认知进程 指出它们可能会增强认知康复的效果 在病程早期采取干预措施。这个 认知康复联合应用的潜在协同效应 AD的药理药物是令人兴奋的，因为有希望开发出更新更多的药物 未来治疗这种情况的有效药理药物。这有 对优化和维持患者认知的重要意义 和最长的一段时间的功能独立。 这项拟议的研究是对一种新的系统性认知再培训的评估 增强和维持儿童认知和功能状态的计划 接受胆碱酯酶抑制剂(多奈哌齐)治疗的AD患者。除了……之外 它最先进的认知方法，目前的理论驱动的范式 在另外两个方面是独一无二的：它结合了强大的功能 成分及其作为治疗延伸器的主要照顾者的使用 促进临床成果的推广和维护 设置为患者的日常生活。虽然之前的努力包括一个 或其中的两个单独存在，以前的程序都没有提供这一点 在以下人群中治疗AD的综合方法类型 接受有效的药理作用。除了直接 对于AD患者，建议的认知康复干预是 还有望减轻照顾者的感知负担和心理负担 苦恼。

DESCRIPTION (from the application): Cognitive Rehabilitation has been shown to be effective in treating a variety of neurological disorders including traumatic brain injury and stroke. Until recently, there has been a paucity of research investigating the utility of this therapeutic modality with mildly impaired AD patients because of the assumption that any gains would be offset by progressive deterioration associated with the degenerative disease process. There is, however, data that suggest that techniques such as spaced retrieval" and other techniques which rely on procedural knowledge and implicit memory, motor learning and the provision of cognitive support at both encoding and retrieval of information can be beneficial to mildly impaired AD patients. The recently introduced cholinesterase inhibitors such as Donepezil (Aricept) have been empirically shown to slow the cognitive progression of AD to the point that they may enhance the efficacy of cognitive rehabilitation interventions when introduced early in the course of the illness. The potential synergistic effects of combined cognitive rehabilitation with pharmacological agents in AD is exciting, given the promise of newer and more effective pharmacological agents for this condition in the future. This has important implications for optimizing and maintaining the patient's cognitive and functional independence for the longest period of time. The proposed study is an evaluation of a new systematic cognitive retraining program for enhancing and maintaining the cognitive and functional status of AD patients receiving a cholinesterase inhibitor (Donepezil). In addition to its state of the-art cognitive approaches, the present theory-driven paradigm is unique in two other ways: its incorporation of a strong functional component and its use of the primary caregiver as a therapy extender to promote generalization and maintenance of gains attained in the clinical setting to the patient's everyday life. While prior efforts have included one or two of these elements in isolation, no previous program has offered this type of integrated approach in the treatment of AD among individuals who are receiving an effective pharmacological agent. In addition to the direct benefit to AD patients, the proposed cognitive rehabilitation intervention is also expected to reduce the caregiver's perceived burden and psychological distress.