Successful Harvard Clinical Trial Provides Hope For Alzheimer’s Patients

 

A successful Harvard clinical trial performed at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston provides hope for Alzheimer’s patients and their families.

A Professor of Neurology at Harvard, Alvaro Pascual-Leone, speaks of the success of the trial, in saying, “It is a completely new and different approach, safe, noninvasive, and painless. Tests have shown significant improvement of cognitive functions, and we’ve seen increased connectivity in the brain in functional MRI scans. As a result, patients’ daily activities, such as taking care of themselves, speaking, and even recognizing their loved ones, has improved dramatically. This far exceeds what is currently available with medications today. New ideas for treatment which show such promise are very rare indeed, so we are very optimistic.”

Known as the NeuroAD Medical Device, this device combines cognitive training and electromagnetic brain stimulation using a computer screen that targets certain regions of the brain that have been affected by Alzheimer’s.

In earlier trials conducted in Israel, it has been found that this device is able to prevent the deterioration of the Alzheimer’s disease in patients but also improve cognitive performance than is possible with medications that lose their effect within 6-9 months of treatment.

With no cure for Alzheimer’s at the moment, and about 35 million people suffering with this disease, it isn’t surprising that physicians are excited about the results of the recently concluded trial in Boston.

Being considered a real ‘game-changer’ in managing patient with Alzheimer’s, the Israel-based Neuronix that created this device plans to conduct two more clinical trials in the United States by the end of the year.