Tormod Fladby
Akershus University Hospital
Norway
Dementia Disease Initiation
RCN
249,740
01/11/2012
4
For the first time, DDI brings together trans-national advanced neuroscientific communities combining technology (MRI, PIB-PET), know-how (neurochemistry, post-processing) and advanced equipment as well as patient cohorts, to ultimately combat incipient cognitive impairment and dementia.
The project benefits also from texisting NORNI-project, and most importantly from the combined analysis and harmonization of existing large national patient- and control cohorts from Helse Sør-Øst (“MCI-GO”), HelseVest (” DemVest”) and HelseMidt (“Trønderbrain”), and starting up a similar cohort in Helse Nord. Major knowledge gains will be made already from cross-cohort analysis of existing data (see proj. plan.).
Building on national, EU (JPND) Scandinavian and highly adv anced international networks for collaboration, we will fruitfully integrate Alzheimer (AD) and Parkinson/Diffuse Lewy Body (PD/DLB) research by contrasting major cognitive disease trajectories to normal aging (NA).
AD and PD/DLB are major dementia disea ses (60-80% of all cases). Years and decades of pre-clinical and predementia cognitive impairment and utlimatel extremely challenging due to extensive behavioral, emotional and cognitive disturbance and rapidly increasing high costs to society.
To prevent dementia, a focus-shift to predementia stages and knowledge of early mechanisms putatively amenable to prevention and intervention are needed. Dementia patients have suffered neuronal degeneration, lost neurons and neural networks can not be replaced. So me pathophysiological processes involved have been described, but major knowledge gaps persist.
Incipient disease will be mapped in NA cohorts, and putative incipient disease manifestations and predictors will be mapped accross neurochemistry, imaging mod alities and genetics to gain insight in initial disease mechanisms, trajectories.
Build on regional established running projects, intnl. networks, trans-regional advanced competence DDI has a high success-likelyhood