History of Alzheimer's

The first Alzheimer’s case was diagnosed more than 100 years ago. Dr. Alois Alzheimer, a German psychiatrist, identified what was to become the first case of Alzheimer’s Disease in a 50 year old woman in 1901. He was able to observe the woman until her death five year’s after her diagnosis. Upon examining the woman’s brain, Dr. Alzheimer identified brain tissue with abnormal clumps and irregular knots of brain cells. Today, these clumps (now called plaques) and knots (now called tangles) are considered the classic hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease.

From that time forward, the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease was given to people between the ages of 45 and 65 who had the symptoms of pre-senile dementia. Unfortunately, dementia was considered to be a normal outcome of the aging process for those over age 65 and was thought to be caused by age-related “hardening” of brain arteries. In the 1970s and early 1980s the name Alzheimer’s disease began to be used for all people who were afflicted with dementia
regardless of their age.