Another Form of Dementia: Maybe It’s Not Alzheimer’s

Many of us worry about the specter of Alzheimer’s disease—either for ourselves or for a loved one. We can’t help but think that issues with word retrieval, names, and directions spell the start of a steady slide into oblivion and feel hopeless about the treatment options.

However, researchers have recently found that there is another form of dementia that may have been lumped in with Alzheimer’s. Scientists from an array of institutions funded by the National Institutes of Health (along with international colleagues) have recently identified what they call a pathway to dementia. It’s called LATE, or Limbic-predominant Age-related TDP-43 Encephalopathy, according to a report recently published in the journal Brain.