Alzheimer's disease? Look for a laboratory of memory disorders in I MGMU

A person loses his memoryRossiyskaya Gazeta, together with specialists from the First Moscow State Medical University, is ready to help such patients

Irina Krasnopolskaya, RG (Federal Issue), 03.12.2010

Almost one and a half million Russians are deprived of the opportunity to communicate with the outside world. Senile dementia, dementia, Alzheimer's disease are diagnoses that sometimes cause more horror than cancer. Is it possible to resist them? The RG columnist talks about this with Khachik Sayadyan, professor of the Department of Pharmacology of the I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University.

Rossiyskaya Gazeta: They say that if the Lord God wants to punish a person, he deprives him of reason. Indeed, there is nothing more terrible than if suddenly a normal person ceases to be aware of what is happening, sometimes he can't even remember his name. There is such a terrible term: "plant man". Why is this happening, Khachik Sarkisovich?

Khachik Sayadyan: Every organ has its main functions. The heart pumps blood and thus ensures the life of cells. The kidneys filter the blood, the stomach digests food, and the brain provides a person's connection with the outside world. The brain is in charge of our consciousness, our behavior, our ability to contact other people, take care of ourselves, is in charge of our memory, and so on. All of this has a common term: cognitiveness.

If cognition is impaired, then there are many serious problems. For example, a person looks at a watch that he has on his hand, but cannot understand why they are. That is, the person as a person is no longer there. This is a huge disaster for him, although he often does not realize it. For his family and friends. The heart works normally, the stomach digests food, but the personality does not.

RG: Does such a transformation happen suddenly or does a person "go" to him?

Sayadyan: I will tell you a story that is quite famous. US President Ronald Reagan suffered from Alzheimer's disease. At first, the most harmless thing happened: Reagan stopped riding – he forgot where he was, forgot where his favorite horse was and what he should do. Then there were periods when Reagan stopped recognizing his friends and relatives. But consciousness has not yet left him completely. During one of the bright periods, he managed to write a farewell letter to his family, in which he tried to explain how he was leaving this world. After this letter, he lived for more than ten years. But this was no longer the Reagan who ruled the United States for eight years. This example shows that memory loss, Alzheimer's disease can develop at different rates and gradually destroys our ability to communicate with the outside world.

RG: And even in the USA, doctors could not help their former president?

Sayadyan: They couldn't! And today they would hardly be able to. Now in Europe, according to official data, 6.1 million people suffer from Alzheimer's disease. As you understand, this is not only a medical problem, but also a huge social problem for the whole world. And I will still upset you: there are more such patients in the XXI century than in the centuries that have passed. One in 20 people who have reached the age of 65 begins to suffer from this disease.

RG: Is it because there is an aging process going on all over the world? So, maybe it's not worth fighting for life extension, if it's such a terrible fee?

Sayadyan: Well, no! One does not follow from the other. You said the purest sedition. It is absolutely necessary to fight for the prolongation of life. Another thing is that a long life should not be painful. And now the main thing for the whole world is to improve the quality of life for people of mature age.

RG: But the more civilized the country, the more people who suffer from Alzheimer's disease. And this is precisely because people live longer in such countries.

Sayadyan: Not a completely correct reasoning. In these countries, the disease is noted more often, because they have a better system of diagnosis and early treatment. That is why, according to experts, the number of such patients will double in Western Europe by 2040, and in Eastern Europe – three times. In our country, the problem of diagnosing this disease is extremely acute. In some federal entities, according to available statistics, one patient per year may be registered. In fact, epidemiological indicators indicate that the number of patients in the country exceeds one and a half million people. This figure is growing. And this is having an increasingly acute effect on the country's economy. And there are two reasons for this: first, it is necessary to treat the patients themselves, and treatment is very expensive. The second is that such patients cannot do without outside help. For example, in the United States, it is believed that direct costs amount to $ 80 billion a year, and indirect costs amount to $ 40 billion. This means that close people of working age are forced to devote themselves to caring for the sick.

RG: Is there still a light at the end of the tunnel? Or is the situation a dead end?

Sayadyan: All the leading scientific institutions of the world, all the largest pharmaceutical companies invest a lot of money in the development of tools for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease. So far, only one family company from Europe can boast of real success: it managed to create a drug that can stop the development of the disease. But it is not yet available to everyone because of its relatively high price.

RG: It turns out, as the great Arkady Raikin once said, we have everything, but not for everyone.

Sayadyan: But in general, this is the fate of new drugs. Of course, it is very tempting to live up to the moment when researchers will offer, for example, a specific vaccine.

RG: Vaccines are usually offered for infectious diseases. Is Alzheimer's not one of them?

Sayadyan: There is no unambiguous answer to this question anywhere in the world yet. Nevertheless, there are several hypotheses that scientists are working on. In particular, the infectious hypothesis has not been discounted.

RG: Is it possible to get infected with memory loss?

Sayadyan: There is no reliable data on this. Personally, I think that's not the case. Another thing is that there may be a genetic predisposition to this disease.

RG: The closer old age is, the more dangerous it is to live: suddenly and personally I will fall into the clutches of Alzheimer's...

Sayadyan: I don't think you're in any danger. The longer and the more a person is engaged in mentally active work, the more he trains his brain, the less likely it is that Alzheimer's will come. In addition, there are already methods and drugs that still effectively resist this scourge. In the clinic of nervous diseases of our university there is a group of specialists dealing with this problem. There is a specialized laboratory of memory disorders, headed by Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Nikolai Nikolaevich Yakhno. This is the leading neurological unit in Russia that deals with cognitive problems. Special programs have been created in the laboratory, lectures are given, seminars are held, materials are prepared for patients and their relatives. That is, there is a system of assistance already generally accepted in the world in this area.

RG: One laboratory for the whole country?

Sayadyan: Its specialists work for the whole country, starting from the training of personnel and ending with the preparation of training material. The experience of creating such a laboratory is now being used in other regions. In particular, an informant disk has been developed that teaches patients themselves, if they can still do it, and most importantly, relatives, how to care for such patients, how to help them live with such a diagnosis, preserving the quality of life.

RG: How much does it cost to purchase a disk?

Sayadyan: Not at all. The disc is not for sale. It is given to all those in need who turn to us.

RG: Consider that the readers of Rossiyskaya Gazeta have contacted you.

Sayadyan: We are ready to hold a charity social New Year's event together with you: let interested people contact your newspaper or our Memory Laboratory. And we will give them this CD for free. And if they are not Muscovites, then we will send them by e–mail - also for free.

From the editorial office:
At what address to contact, they did not write in the above article in the WG.
The coordinates of the memory disorders laboratory are obviously classified, and we were able to find only such:

The Department of Pharmacology with the course of Drug Technology of the Faculty of Postgraduate Professional Education of Pharmacists, where Prof. H.S. Sayadyan works:
127018, Moscow, Skladochnaya str., 1 p. 17, tel.: (495) 727-18-09

Department of Nervous Diseases of the Faculty of Medicine (Head – Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Professor, Doctor of Medical Sciences Yakhno Nikolay Nikolaevich:
Moscow, Rossolimo str., 11, p. 1 (Clinic of Nervous Diseases, 2nd floor K. 242-246)
Tel.: (499) 248-63-00, (499) 248-63-73, (499) 248-65-22, 622-47-70, (499) 248-26-03,
(499) 248-63-66, (499) 248-65-11, (499) 248-69-00, (499) 248-65-00

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru
03.12.2010