Initiating and monitoring cholinesterase inhibitor treatment for Alzheimer's disease

✍ Scribed by Gregory R. J. Swanwick; Brian A. Lawlor

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 75 KB
• Volume: 14
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6230
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1166(199904)14:4<244::aid-gps917>3.0.co;2-o

✦ Synopsis

The availability of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease raises a number of clinical and ethical questions. Many of the guidelines published in an attempt to tackle these questions lack either clinical or scienti®c validity. Against this background a model is proposed whereby specialist monitoring using formal tests is neither appropriate nor necessary to determine whether an individual patient should continue or stop treatment. Instead the primary care physician should refer potentially suitable patients for specialist assessment to con®rm the diagnosis/ He/she should then initiate, monitor, and discontinue treatment based on the establishment of realistic treatment goals agreed with the patient/carer at the outset.