Publisher's Synopsis
This text presents papers given at an international symposium which discussed perspectives in the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The text focuses on clinical trial data for the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor metrifonate, as well as on a rating scale for Alzheimer's disease. The results of the metrifonate in Alzheimer's trial (MALT), a 6-month placebo-controlled study of metrifonate, are presented, along with an overview of MALT. Data supporting the beneficial effects of the acetylcholinesterase inhibitors on selected neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer's disease is also discussed and a pharmacological rationale for the clinical and neuropsychiatric benefits of metrifonate is offered along with a description of how the smooth hydrolysis of metrifonate in situ to the active metabolite DDVP, could account in part for the compound's favourable tolerability profile.
