Mount Sinai Hosts 9th Annual International Alzheimer's Symposium

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May 10, 2011, 05:28 ET

MIAMI BEACH, Fla., May 10, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Medical experts from around the world gathered at The Eden Roc Hotel on Friday, April 29 and Saturday, April 30, to discuss the latest breakthroughs in Alzheimer's Disease treatment and diagnosis at the 9th annual Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) Symposium hosted by Mount Sinai Medical Center of Miami Beach. The annual symposium aims to provide a forum for new information and in-depth discussions about advances in research related to the clinical diagnosis and progression of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). This year's symposium emphasized the early stages of AD and presented results from several longitudinal and cross-sectional studies that explored risk factors, diagnosis and progression of Alzheimer's, mild cognitive impairment and dementia.

Dr. Ranjan Duara, Director of The Mount Sinai Wien Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders and host of the event, stresses the importance of early diagnosis of the disease. "Part of our discussions at this symposium is about determining how doctors can detect the disease in its earliest stages, just like we detect high cholesterol in people's blood and start treating high cholesterol whether or not patients have any symptoms. The same goes for treating Alzheimer's early so we can prevent the disease from escalating. "

International experts from the United States, Australia, France, England, Canada, and Netherlands gave presentations on various topics related to Alzheimer's diagnosis, treatment and research. This year's keynote speakers were Dr. Christopher Rowe, Director of Medicine from the University of Melbourne, Australia whose presentation was titled "Early Diagnosis of AD – Now and the Future", and Dr. Bruno Dubois, Professor at the Federation de Neurologie Hospital de la Salpetriere in Paris, France whose presentation was titled "Rationale for Prodromal and Preclinical AD Criteria". Doctors also participated and exchanged ideas in three mini-symposiums: Risk Factor for Progression from Normal Aging to MCI and Dementia; Studies in Preclinical AD: Diagnosis and Progression; and Studies in Prodromal AD: Diagnosis and Risk for Progression.

Unless ways are found to prevent Alzheimer's or delay its onset, it is projected that 13 million people in the U.S. will have Alzheimer's Disease by 2050. Since the development of criteria for AD twenty-five years ago, major advances in our understanding of the biology and early clinical features of AD have led to improvement in clinical assessments which have enabled clinicians to diagnose an earlier stage of the illness, mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The Mount Sinai Wien Center for Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders along with Dr. Duara will continue to host this annual symposium so physicians from all over the world will have a forum to present research and discuss ideas that can provide a greater understanding of the clinical diagnosis, progression and treatment of Alzheimer's Disease.

CONTACT:

Joanna Palmer

(305) 674-2589

[email protected]

SOURCE Mount Sinai Medical Center