Anyone who knows someone who is battling or has battled Alzheimer’s disease will know how difficult it can be to watch the condition progress. Alzheimer’s disease disrupts the communication between neurons in the brain, affecting memory and cognitive function. An Alzheimer’s diagnosis can be a shock, both to the patient and their loved ones. Watching as the disease steals a person’s memories and changes their personality isn’t easy. Fortunately, an Alzheimer’s breakthrough from neurosurgeon Dr. Ali Rezai could help control and slow the progression of the condition.
Dr. Ali Rezai, a neuroscience pioneer who’s developed treatments for Parkinson’s disease and other brain disorders, believes he’s found a groundbreaking Alzheimer’s treatment that could slow the progression of the disease.
What Is the Alzheimer’s Breakthrough From Neurosurgeon Dr. Rezai?
To understand how Dr. Rezai’s groundbreaking Alzheimer’s treatment works, it’s important to understand the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Our brains are made up of tens of billions of neurons, which transmit information between different parts of the brain and from the brain to other parts of the body.
As we get older, it’s normal for our brains to shrink slightly, but that loss of size isn’t usually accompanied by a loss of many neurons in a healthy person. However, in someone with Alzheimer’s, the connection between neurons is disrupted, and as neurons lose connection with each other, they die off.
The brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease have amyloid plaques in them. These plaques are formed from beta-amyloid proteins that are also found in normal, healthy brains. The difference is that people with Alzheimer’s have the beta-amyloid-42 form of the protein, which is toxic and disrupts cell function.
The latest Alzheimer’s research focuses on ways of preventing the formation of those amyloid plaques — for example, using drugs such as lecanemab to prevent the formation of plaques. Dr. Rezai’s groundbreaking Alzheimer’s treatment involves using ultrasound in combination with drugs to break down the plaques, preventing them from causing further damage to the brain.
Ultrasound Treatment vs. Drugs for Alzheimer’s
While both the ultrasound treatment and the new drug-only approaches for managing Alzheimer’s work in the same way, targeting the amyloid plaques in the brain, there’s one key difference that makes Dr. Rezai’s treatment so interesting.
Drugs such as lecanemab are given intravenously, and they work slowly. The body has something called the blood-brain barrier, which is a collection of filter cells that line blood vessels, preventing toxins from reaching the brain. This filter serves a valuable role in day-to-day life, but its efficacy means it also prevents most drugs from reaching the brain.
To see any results from lecanemab, patients must have IV treatments once or twice a month for an 18-month period. During that time, the symptoms of Alzheimer’s may continue to progress, and the patient has to make regular trips to the clinic for a transfusion that can take a couple of hours to complete. That’s a significant time investment for something that isn’t a cure.
Dr. Rezai’s breakthrough idea is exactly that: a way for drugs to break through the blood-brain barrier. By targeting ultrasound waves at the brain, the barrier can be briefly opened, allowing the drugs to get where they need to be more quickly.
Rezai explains that “what we want to do is push individuals toward the milder stages of Alzheimer’s with less plaques to give them a fighting chance.”
Focused Ultrasound Makes Drug Therapies 32% More Effective
So far, the treatment is in its early stages. However, the results are promising. One test involved giving patients a lab-made antibody called aducanumab while directing focused ultrasound waves at one hemisphere of the brain. After treatment, the researchers found that the hemisphere that received the focused ultrasound treatment had seen a reduction in amyloid plaques of around 32% more than the other hemisphere.
Focused ultrasound can also be used for other treatments, including to help cancer drugs target cancers that have spread to the brain. However, it’s important to note that while it increases the effectiveness of the treatments, it can also increase the intensity of side effects.
Joshua Grill, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the University of California at Irvine, considers the study “biologically very exciting.” However, he stresses that the blood-brain barrier exists for a reason and that more years of work will be required before these treatments can be approved as a common option for patients.
Providing Hope for Alzheimer’s Patients
An estimated 6 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s, and that figure is expected to reach 13 million by 2050. Dr. Rezai’s research is just one of many neurosurgery advancements in Alzheimer’s treatment. Through a combination of early diagnosis and the Alzheimer’s breakthrough from neurosurgeon Dr. Rezai, it may be possible for people who are living with early signs of Alzheimer’s to retain a higher quality of life for longer.
Dr. Rezai stresses that the treatment he’s pioneering right now isn’t a cure for Alzheimer’s but could help stop the disease progressing. He’s also investigating a second stage of treatment, using ultrasound differently, to reverse the damage the plaques have already caused to improve brain function.
Whether he’ll be successful with this second goal remains to be seen. However, even the treatment he currently suggests shows a lot of promise. If Alzheimer’s is caught early enough, these ultrasound sessions could slow the progression of the disease before it has a significant impact on a person’s cognitive abilities and quality of life.
The human brain is a complex organ, and there are many things that can have an effect on its function. If you or someone you care for is struggling with mental health or cognitive function, whether due to stress, addiction or Alzheimer’s, the team at Sun Health Center is here to help. We offer a range of IV therapies, neurotherapy and other treatment options. Contact us today to book a consultation and get on the path to better mental health.
