The Diagnosis Is Alzheimer's. But That's Probably Not the Only Problem.

Mixed pathologies in people diagnosed with dementia are a major scientific obstacle, because researchers cannot tell whether any individual condition, or all of them collectively, are responsible for memory loss, reports the New York Times . There also exists the possibility that these abnormalities themselves are symptoms of a yet-to-be-determined cause of dementia, says Roderick A. Corriveau at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. A lack of insight into managing mixed pathologies is the key reason they were mostly ignored until recently. According to University College London's John Hardy, "Everybody knows about it. But we don't know what to do about it." Cambridge University's Carol Brayne says the fact that the older a person gets, the more prone he/she is to dementia is a significant factor. Also gaining interest in scientific circles is the possibility that something in the brain may be triggering a flood of abnormalities, which if proved could lead to effective anti-dementia treatment.