Alois Alzheimer and Emil Kraepelin are usually seen as the founders of the modern concept of Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer's disease is named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer, a German doctor during 1890s. He did a study of changes in the brain tissues of a woman who had died of unusual mental illness.
Dr. Alois Alzheimer was a physician in Germany examined his patients, a woman in her forties who had completely lost her memory and developed strange behavior. She died at the age of 51, and Dr Alzheimer decided to examined her brain at autopsy.
What he found was that the women’s brain appeared to be normal, and however he noticed that abnormal clumps and tangled bundles of fibers. Plaques and tangles in the brain by today are considered signs of Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr Alzheimer found the evidence of brain deterioration in those patients diagnosed with dementia. He found a pattern of damage which is still considered to be clue to the presence of Alzheimer’s disease during autopsy.
Alzheimer's disease is a common cause of dementia. It is a degenerative and terminal disease for which there is no known cure. It is a brain disorder that seriously affects a person’s ability to carry out daily activities.
Discovery of Alzheimer's disease
