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American Morning
Promising News For People Suffering From Alzheimer's
Aired June 24, 2002 - 08:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: As promised now, time for our "House Call." There is some promising news for people suffering from Alzheimer's. Let's go to Atlanta with a look at new treatments for the frightening disease. Dr. Sanjay Gupta here with this amazing story this morning.
Sanjay, good morning again.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
Yes, you know, Alzheimer's certainly can be a very frustrating disease and very hard to diagnose, and we hear about preventive treatments and all sorts of things using diet and drugs. Now they're looking at another option; they're studying another option, albeit a very controversial option. But maybe offering some patients hope.
Rhonda Rowland takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RHONDA ROWLAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Seventy-two- year-old Fletcher Barnes (ph) can play the saxophone, shoot about a 90 on the golf course, and for better or worse, take care of his yard. But ask him when he started playing the sax.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gosh, since about -- oh. Jack, how long have I been playing?
(UNINTELLIGIBLE), how long I've been playing the horn.
ROWLAND: His wife answered, since high school. How about a more recent memory, like what he had to eat for lunch, which he did just moments before this interview.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I forget. What did you put on the lettuce, I forgot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tuna fish.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tuna Fish, yes.
ROWLAND (on camera): What it's like to live with mild Alzheimer's disease?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's frustrating, really, sometines, But yet I do most anything I want to do, don't I?
ROWLAND (voice-over): And that's how he'd like things to stay. So now he's just hours away from taking his chances on a new, experimental therapy called "cogni shunt." That's designed essentially to wash the brain of Alzheimer's toxins. Researchers think toxins stagnate the brain, so the idea is to wash out the toxins with a shunt and slow down memory loss.
(on camera): The cogni shut procedure sounds easy. After all, doctors have been using shunts for other medical conditions for years. But other Alzheimer's researchers say the procedure is risky. After all, it is brain surgery. And there's just one small study suggesting the procedure might help Alzheimer's students.
DR. ALLEN LEVEY, EMORY UNIVERSITY: There certainly are skeptics, and there are going to remain skeptics. The more ideas that get tested, the more likely we are to find a cure.
ROWLAND (voice-over): It will take about two years for doctors to find out if this experiment worked. Just days before his surgery, Fletcher Barnes (ph) told us what he was hoping for.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you get that?
ROWLAND: Would you think the surgery would be a success if it held you right where you are today?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it will. That would be a success, if it would stop it here. And I am going to hope for a little more, but I'll settle for that.
ROWLAND: Rhonda Rowland, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: Fletcher Barnes had his operation 11 days ago now, and appears to be doing quite well. Of course it will be some time before we know whether the cogni shunt, the brainwashing, actually has any effect -- Bill.
HEMMER: And, Sanjay, on that, if you could give us a bit better detail on, number one, how it work? And for the millions of people susceptible to Alzheimer's across the country, perhaps watching this story, could they use this to their advantage?
GUPTA: Right. Well, you know, it's sort of interesting how it works. And like I said at the top, it's sort of controversial.
Let's take a look at why people think Alzheimer's develops in the first place. And there are a lot of prevailing theories about, but one basically has to do with build-up of toxins in the brain. And if you look at certain toxins, they have named, amyloid (ph), and talm (ph) protein. The names aren't that important.
But essentially, as you see here, they will actually sometimes build-up in the brain and effect the neurons. These plaques can actually develop and then tangles (ph). That's the fancy name for them, I guess. But they sometimes, if they develop in great numbers can actually lead to the death of the neurons.
But more importantly, those same toxins can actually get in and around the entire brain and essentially bathe the brain in those toxins.
Now with the shunt, as we see here, the shunt will actually be placed into the brain, and it will continuously drain fluid from the top of the head all the way into the abdominal cavity, continuously washing away those toxins, thus the name brainwashing. It is very early. It is not available to the general public. It is still being tested. That's the theory on how and why it might work.
HEMMER: Some are suggesting it may be another two years before indeed it is continued and seen as successful for a lot of people. In the meantime, though, current therapies are suggested? What?
GUPTA: Yes, there are therapies out there, certainly much more -- less invasive. Rhonda pointed out in the package, this does involve brain surgery. The other ones don't. Look at some of the medications that are out there now, Aricept, Exelon and Reminyl. Those medications may actually improve some of the ability to think in patients with Alzheimer's. Vitamin E has long been something associated with improvements in Alzheimer's. And drugs for your emotional problems, that's basically anti-anxiety drugs, anti depressants. They may be treating more of the symptoms of Alzheimer's than the Alzheimer's itself. They do seem to have some benefits as well in patients with Alzheimer's.
HEMMER: Sanjay, don't have much time. Is it possible, though, for people to reduce their risk right now of getting Alzheimer's?
GUPTA: Yes, and that's been something that's studied as well. It's not been proven, but certainly low-cholesterol diet, folic acid, don't antioxidant vitamins, don't smoke. Use your mind. Crossword puzzles -- "The New York Times" Crossword puzzle is as good as any to try and improve your thinking continuously and try to decrease the onset of Alzheimer's.
HEMMER: We'll see in a couple of years if indeed this cogni shunt is successful. They say it could slow down possibly Alzheimer's, but no evidence just yet that it could stop it, or halt it or even reverse it. Fascinating stuff, though.
Thanks, Sanjay. We'll see you in New York tomorrow, OK?
GUPTA: Yes, I'll be there.
HEMMER: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, at the CNN Center.
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