Rita Cinardi
02 October 2021 21:26
The IV edition of the Highlights in Neurology congress, organized by the head of Neurology of the Sant’Elia hospital and regional president of the Italian Society of Neurology Michele Vecchio, was a new opportunity to immerse yourself in the field of science and closely observe how experimentation continues. to make great strides by offering new care opportunities. The relations illustrated by luminaries of international level, together with those of the primaries of the various Neurology operating units of various parts of Italy, if on the one hand they served to increase the knowledge of the numerous participants, between comparisons and numerous ideas for reflection, represented a real “injection” of trust and hope in an increasingly rosy future for research.
In recent years, great strides are being made on diseases that until a few years ago were considered incurable. Today a person with multiple sclerosis can give birth and lead a normal life, patients with disabling migraines can try new treatments with monoclonal antibodies, and new treatments for drug-resistant epilepsy are already in use. And then there is the field of senile dementia, today in Italy 1.2 million people suffer from it. Talking to us about the news in this last field is the organizer of the conference himself, the Nyssian head physician of Neurology Michele Vecchio. “Alzheimer’s disease is one of the diseases with the highest social impact as well as clinical – explains doctor Michele Vecchio – it is a disease in constant increase, it is the first cause of dementia and it is a disease whose growth trend is destined to increase as we have seen in the past few decades. One of the main risk factors is age and therefore as average survival advances we expect many cases.
It is a disease that must be approached from a multidimensional point of view, starting from the causes that are the subject of in-depth study and then with regard to taking care of the patient and his family. Medicines, increasingly sophisticated diagnostic methods, welfare and care givers to be supported and the development of a concept that has recently been affirming itself: that of a prevention activity for dementia syndrome and Alzheimer’s in particular. By studying the incidence of the disease – continues the head physician – it is shown that one of the causes is the existence of comorbidities. And therefore people have to live a proper lifestyle, they have to eat well, do physical activity, avoid smoking. Then there is the so-called cognitive implementation that is we have to keep our brain awake, we have to keep it active. And all this must be done when you are still fine. Currently, the drugs that are being developed have a true action only if they are used at the beginning of the disease.
We must be ready to use the new drugs, one of which, Aducanumab has already been registered with the American FDA in June of this year, and we think in 2022-2023 it will also be in Europe and therefore also in Italy, and has a indication for extremely early forms. It would be nice to say that this is the drug that cures Alzheimer’s. I do not know if this will be possible in the future but already modify the natural history of the disease, and therefore guarantee a patient for 10 or 20 years a good quality of life, keep it in his memory, in his memories, in his affections and in his hobby, I think it will be a success ”. For a moment then I rewind the tape and go back to what Doctor Vecchio said at the beginning of our conversation, and that is to keep our brains awake when we are still fine. But what needs to be done to train the mind? “You need to have a trained spirit. The mind trains if you live, if you do things, if you make plans, if you establish reasoning, if you solve problems. We must avoid floating on nothing ”. Rita Cinardi
The fourth edition of the Highlights in Neurology congress, organized by the head of Neurology of the Sant’Elia hospital and regional president of the Italian Society of Neurology Michele Vecchio, was a new opportunity to immerse oneself in the field of science and closely observe how experimentation continues to make great strides by offering new care opportunities. The reports illustrated by luminaries of international level, together with those of the primaries of the various Neurology operational units of various parts of Italy, if on the one hand they served to increase the knowledge of the numerous participants, between comparisons and numerous ideas for reflection, represented a a real “injection” of trust and hope in an increasingly rosy future for research.
In recent years, great strides are being made on diseases that until a few years ago were considered incurable. Today a person with multiple sclerosis can give birth and lead a normal life, patients with disabling migraines can try new treatments with monoclonal antibodies, and new treatments for drug-resistant epilepsy are already in use. And then there is the field of senile dementia, today in Italy 1.2 million people suffer from it. The organizer of the conference himself, Michele Vecchio, head of Neurology from Nyssen, talked to us about the news in this last field. the first cause of dementia and a disease whose growth trend is destined to increase as we have seen in recent decades.
It is a disease that must be approached from a multidimensional point of view, starting from the causes that are the subject of in-depth study and then with regard to taking care of the patient and his family. Medicines, increasingly sophisticated diagnostic methods, welfare and care givers to be supported and the development of a concept that is gaining momentum in the last period: that of a prevention activity for dementia and Alzheimer’s syndrome in particular. Studying the incidence of the disease – continues the primary – proved that one of the causes is the existence of comorbidities. And therefore people have to live a proper lifestyle, they have to eat well, do physical activity, avoid smoking. Then there is the so-called cognitive implementation that we have to keep our brain awake, we have to keep it active. And all this must be done when you are still fine. Currently, the drugs that are being developed have a true action only if they are used at the beginning of the disease.
We must be ready to use the new drugs, one of which, Aducanumab, was already registered with the American FDA in June of this year, and we think in 2022-2023 it will also be in Europe and therefore also in Italy, and has an indication for the extremely early forms. It would be nice to say that this is the drug that cures Alzheimer’s. I do not know if this will be possible in the future but already modify the natural history of the disease, and therefore guarantee a patient for 10 or 20 years a good quality of life, keep it in his memory, in his memories, in his affections and in his hobby, I think it will be a success. “For a moment then I rewind the tape and go back to what Doctor Vecchio said at the beginning of our conversation, and that is to keep our brains awake while we are still fine. train your mind? “You need to have a trained spirit. The mind trains if you live, if you do things, if you make plans, if you establish reasoning, if you solve problems. We must avoid floating on nothing “. Rita Cinardi