Alzheimer's & Memory Disorders
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Memory loss can occur with aging, but dementia refers to extreme changes in memory, attention, concentration, language and organizational abilities. The forms and types of dementia vary and include Alzheimer’s disease, lewy body disease and frontotemporal dementia (Pick's disease).
How Collaboration Played a Role in Major Discovery
The Kipnis Lab at UVA, led by Jonathan Kipnis, PhD, has earned its fair share of publicity for the major discovery that the brain has a direct connection to the immune system.
We discovered a network of vessels in the covering of the brain, called the meninges, and these vessels are lymphatic vessels in nature. They are unique lymphatics, but they are bona fide lymphatics. Research advances medicine. Research pioneers treatment. Research pursues cures. Research improves patient care. Research thrives at UVA. The idea of the Central Nervous System, of the CNS, does not have lymphatic vasculature, which is kind of true because inside the brain, we do not have vessels per se, but the idea was that, well how does the brain drain, and we don�t even understand how the drainage, how the cleaning of the brain is occurring. What we discovered is a lymphatic vasculature in the brain within the Meninges layer. This lymphatic system functions by draining cerebral spinal fluid, which washes the brain and removes all the toxins. The beauty of this discovery is potentially, in the future, they may serve as therapeutical targets for disorders, such as Alzheimer's, Dementia, and even Autism. Now that we have a physical structure to work with, we can make it work more efficiently. So collaboration is a major thing because we all have our own specialties, like we�re good at something or we�re interested in one particular question scientifically, but when you start talking with people that are outside of the field and outside of the things you normally do, they�re going to come up with ideas, they�re going to come up with techniques that you can apply to your own system, and that�s going to bring the research forward. We are a neuroscience lab, so we are interested in the brain, and years ago when we started to see those lymphatic, we were not a vascular biology lab, and so being able to interact with people that knew vascular biology helped us drive the discovery forward. UVA is one of the most collaborative places that I�ve experienced, that I�ve seen. This is really, this is like family. You can knock on people�s doors and get stuff going. Without the collaborative spirit of UVA, it wouldn�t be possible.
Diagnosing Memory Loss
Alzheimer’s disease, the leading cause of dementia, is a brain disorder that worsens over time. It can cause the loss of thinking skills such as memory, judgment and language.
If your doctor thinks you may have a memory disorder, you'll take a physical neurological exam, and may undergo certain imaging tests such as an MRI and/or PET scan.
Because dementia is related to a variety of other conditions, it's important that you receive an accurate diagnosis and ongoing treatment.
We treat the following memory disorders:
Neuroscience: Neurosurgery & Neurology Services
- Focused Ultrasound
- Functional Neurosurgery
- Gamma Knife
- MRI-Guided Surgery: IMRIS Image-guided technology
- Memory Disorders Care
- Movement Disorder Treatments
- Neurocritical Care Neurocritical Care
- Neurology
- Neuroradiology
- Neurovascular Surgery Neurovascular Surgery
- Support Resources Support groups & online resources
- Genetic Counseling & Testing for Neurological Disorders
- Neurology Care for Children