Patient case (clinical description): A 70-year-old man comes to the office accompanied by his wife.  The patient has experienced progressive memory loss over the last years.  He needs help with some of his routine activities, such as paying bills.  The patient's wife says, "He used to be such an independent person, but now he needs help with many things, even finding direction to home!"  Medical history includes hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and type 2 diabetes mellitus.  Family history includes Alzheimer disease in his father.  MRI reveals diffuse cortical and hippocampal atrophy. The diagnosis of AD is made using the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association (NIA-AA) criteria.

Patient's own account: I am a 70-year-old man, and I paid a visit to the doctor with my wife the other day. I noticed that I tend to forget small things and that my memory has decreased over the past few years. I even ask my wife to help me out with my daily routine. I used to be the one paying the bills, but now she has to give me a hand. My wife mentioned to the doctor that I used to be independent and that I tend to forget where we live. I suffer from hypertension, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes. My poor dad was suffering from Alzheimer disease, so I hope I'm not going to end the same way! I did an MRI and they found out that some part of my brain was decreasing. I also did an Alzheimer test.

Clinical trial: Memantine Treatment in Alzheimer's Disease Patients

Eligibility criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

          1. Probable AD based on the diagnosis criteria of NIA-AA guideline (the U.S. National
             Institute on Aging and Alzheimer's Association guideline, McKhann et al, 2011[8];

          2. Male or female, 50 years and older ;

          3. All inpatients or outpatients recruited into this study must meet MMSE score ≤24
             points, patients with MMSE score as 21-24 points will be enrolled into mild group,
             patients with MMSE score as 10-20 points will be enrolled into moderate group,
             patients with MMSE score less than 10 points will be enrolled into severe group.

          4. Have a reliable caregiver who can accompany the patient to the site to complete the
             required study procedures;

          5. Provide the informed consent.

        Exclusion Criteria:

          1. Patients with disturbance of consciousness of any causes;

          2. Patients with severe aphasia or physical disability who were unable to complete
             neuropsychological examination;

          3. Patients with mental illness;

          4. Patients with a history of alcoholism and drug addiction, or traumatic brain injury,
             epilepsy, encephalitis, normal-pressure hydrocephalus and other neurological disorders
             causing cognitive impairment;

          5. Patients with systemic diseases causing dementia (e.g. liver and kidney insufficiency,
             endocrine disorders, vitamin deficiency);

          6. Patients with a history of ischemic or hemorrhagic cerebrovascular diseases, and
             vascular diseases (stroke foci) as confirmed by imaging examination;

          7. Subjects who are unwilling or unable to abide by the study requirement.
No condition on gender to be admitted to the trial.
No healthy subjects accepted to join the trial.
Subject must be at least 50 Years old.


Eligibility (NLI label): Entailment