Alzheimer's disease

noun Alz·hei·mer's disease \ˈälts-ˌhī-mərz-, ˈalts-\

: a disease of the brain that causes people to slowly lose their memory and mental abilities as they grow old

Full Definition of ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

: a degenerative brain disease of unknown cause that is the most common form of dementia, that usually starts in late middle age or in old age, that results in progressive memory loss, impaired thinking, disorientation, and changes in personality and mood, and that is marked histologically by the degeneration of brain neurons especially in the cerebral cortex and by the presence of neurofibrillary tangles and plaques containing beta-amyloid —called also Alzheimer's

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Origin of ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

Alois Alzheimer †1915 German physician

First Known Use: 1911

Medical Dictionary

Alzheimer's disease

noun Alz·hei·mer's disease \ˈälts-ˌhī-mərz-, ˈȯlts-, ˈalts-, ˈalz-\

Medical Definition of ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

: a degenerative brain disease of unknown cause that is the most common form of dementia, that usually starts in late middle age or in old age, that results in progressive memory loss, impaired thinking, disorientation, and changes in personality and mood, that leads in advanced cases to a profound decline in cognitive and physical functioning, and that is marked histologically by the degeneration of brain neurons especially in the cerebral cortex and by the presence of neurofibrillary tangles and plaques containing beta-amyloid—abbreviation AD; called also Alzheimer's; compare presenile dementia

Biographical Note for ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

Alzheimer, Alois (1864–1915), German neurologist. Alzheimer was noted for his work in the pathology of the nervous system. The majority of his medical contributions centered on neurohistology. Alzheimer published papers on topics that include acute alcoholic delirium, schizophrenia, epilepsy, syphilitic meningomyelitis and encephalitis, gliosis, Huntington's disease, and hysterical bulbar paralysis. In 1894, he published a noteworthy description of arteriosclerotic atrophy of the brain. With Franz Nissl, he produced Histologic and Histopathologic Studies of the Cerebral Cortex (1904–08), a six-volume encyclopedia that described normal and abnormal structures in the central nervous system. In 1907 he published his classic description of presenile dementia. The disease was later named in his honor by the German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin.