From March 12 to March 18, the World Brain Knowledge Week is held. And what do we really know about him, but what remains a mystery? Why does Alzheimer’s disease occur at an increasingly young age? What modern methods help diagnose brain diseases?
Aif.ru told about this Deputy Chief physician of the University Clinical Hospital No. 3 of Sechenov University, Neurologist Ksenia Shevtsova.
Strokes in the first place
Julia Board, Aif.ru: Ksenia Viktorovna, what, in your opinion, is the top 5 diseases of the brain that neurologists face?
Ksenia Shevtsova: Some of the most common diseases of the brain are acute cerebrovascular disorders, various variants of hemorrhage and cerebral infarction. Of course, this list includes migraine – every tenth man in the world suffers with it. Anyone who has never encountered migraine is surprised at how a headache can turn an active person into an actually disabled person.
Frequent diseases are frequent – Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, a number of demyelinizing diseases of the peripheral nervous system, such as Guine -Barre syndrome, as well as epilepsy.
Bad sleep and stress – the path to Alzheimer
“You mentioned Alzheimer’s disease.” Some call it a modern epidemic. What is it connected with?
– Alzheimer’s disease is really getting younger. And today it is one of the most common factors in memory reduction. Sleeping, stress load, lifestyle affect the development of the disease. So, if a person sleeps little and poorly, then the probability of developing Alzheimer’s disease is very high. It has long been proven that the correct dream with a certain duration and stages correlates with the elimination of beta amyloid from the body. The accumulation of this protein in the brain causes the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Its correlation with chronic headache has also been proved.
– Is it possible to make a diagnosis to a serious decrease in mental activity?
– Yes, we can now diagnose Alzheimer’s disease in the earliest stages. Having evaluated specific markers in the cerebrospinal fluid (the fluid surrounding the brain – approx. Ed.) During the period when a person’s memory decreases, it is possible to predict with high accuracy whether a person has a given disease or not.
The study of this disease continues, and the plans of our university are the creation of a Bank of biomaterials of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. This will contribute to both the study of the mechanisms of the development of the disease and the search for effective treatment methods.
– Is there a prevention of Alzheimer’s disease, what can be recommended in relation to lifestyle?
– The recommendations are quite simple, they all relate to a healthy lifestyle. This is a combination of cognitive training (thinking, memory, etc.) and physical activity. Even if the disease is already developing, then it is these two components that will help the patient preserve the quality of life at a comfortable level.
Not only MRI
-Is it possible today to distinguish any breakthrough methods for diagnosing diseases of the brain?
-For the past 20-30 years, world medicine has significantly advanced in the field of diagnostics of neurosaerations. The MRI, which has already become a classic, allows you to consider all the smallest connections, the paths that go from gray matter to white. Today, reinforced MRI options are used, starting from 3 Tesla. They allow you to consider smaller structures.
This is the widespread use of PET-KT with various ligands (the connection of molecules or other particles-approx. Ed.), When its chemical compound is used to diagnose each disease, which increases accuracy many times.
Diagnostics based on biomarkers will soon enter into routine practice. So, today we are diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease using the determination of beta-amyloid and tau-prototin in the cerebrospinal fluid (also a special protein-approx. Ed.).
With regard to epilepsy, the diagnosis has an almost complete cycle: these are daily and three-day EEG monitoring, which allow you to “consider” an attack, various options for invasive electroencephalography, when invasive sensors are used to determine the most accurate localization of the epileptic focus before surgery.
Myths about headache
– Despite the successes of scientists, myths associated with the treatment or prevention of brain diseases are still common.
-There are a lot of myths, and we, neurologists, are trying to fight them. So, the opinion is that a headache occurs due to blood vessels praised in the neck. Or, for example, if the head hurts, then it is necessary to measure the pressure, since most likely the pressure is increased, so it needs to be reduced. This is absolutely not so, because blood pressure rises as a reaction to stress, because for the body a headache is severe stress.
Another of the myths: dizziness indicates a stroke. However, it happens that systemic dizziness is associated with the movement of otolites (microscopic deposits of calcium carbonate crystals – approx. Ed.) In the middle ear. And since all patients with dizziness are delivered to the neurological department, neurologists had to partially take over the function of otolaryngologists. And our task is to quickly establish a diagnosis.
It is also often argued that back pain needs to be treated with vitamin B12. Non -specific back pain, the prevalence of which is 95 %, is treated with non -steroidal anti -inflammatory drugs. Patients believe that this is just anesthesia, not understanding that this is a pathogenetic treatment, which is aimed at stopping inflammation and pain.
The brain is constantly changing
– And how much is the human brain generally studied? They say that we still know very little about him.
– The structure of the human brain is studied and known. Neuropathologists who studied the brain during posthumous autopsy played a large role. This was also facilitated by MRI equipment with the highest resolution.
However, in the work of the brain, not all secrets have been disclosed so far. The main thing that prevents the study of the human brain thoroughly is it every second and even more often changing connections and even structures.
The special interest of scientists causes such a property of the brain as neuroplasticity. This is a change in the brain under the influence of experience: when we learn something new or develop new skills, the structure of the brain immediately changes. And neurologists have yet to figure out this issue.
Neurologists are also trying to solve the problem of the effectiveness of the delivery of medicinal substances into the nervous system, since it is behind a hematoencephalic barrier (a semi -permeable shell that separates the brain from the bloody channel – approx. Ed.). For example, deliver antibiotics with bacterial lesions of the central nervous system beyond the shells of the brain.
Source: aif.ru