Form of dementia that ‘mimics’ Alzheimer’s symptoms discovered

The international review concluded that a substantial fraction of patients aged over 80 who were assumed to have Alzheimer’s are suffering from a different brain disorder known as LATE. “Those of us who work in dementia have long been puzzled by our patients who have all the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, but whose brains do not contain the pathological features of the condition,” he said, adding that another mystery was why some of the oldest patients did not progress as rapidly as would be expected with Alzheimer’s disease. “We now know that these puzzling patients are probably suffering from LATE and not Alzheimer’s disease and that LATE may be ‘mimicking’ Alzheimer’s in about 20% of cases,” he said.

Source: www.theguardian.com