Volunteers needed for study

     By Tina Allen
     View staff writer
      The University of Nevada School of Medicine's Alzheimer's Disease Diagnostic and Treatment Center is looking for volunteers to participate in a nationwide study that could help slow the development of Alzheimer's disease.
      Researchers will be looking at two agents -- vitamin E and a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration, called donepezil (Aricept) -- to determine if they can help delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease in people who currently have mild cognitive impairment.
      "The premise of it is, it's not uncommon for individuals as they get older to start noticing some problems with memory," said Dr. Charles Bernick, director of the center. "A certain percentage of them have really significant memory problems that affect some of their day-to-day activities. We now call that mild cognitive impairment."
      Bernick said statistically, about half of the people diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment will develop Alzheimer's disease in about three years.
      "So the thought is that mild cognitive impairment may be in a sense the initial symptom of Alzheimer's disease," he said.
      Participants who qualify for the double-blinded study will be assigned to one of three groups. The first will be given high dosages of vitamin E, a placebo and a multivitamin. The second group will be given Aricept, a placebo and a multivitamin and the third group will be given two placebos and a multivitamin.
      Volunteers should be between the ages of 55 and 90 and willing to participate in the study for three years. All study-related medical care, including diagnostic testing, is free.
      Bernick said if a patient is seen to progress to Alzheimer's disease, they will be dropped immediately from the study and treated for the disease.
      The Alzheimer's Disease Diagnostic and Treatment Center was selected as one of 60 to 80 sites across the United States and Canada to participate in the research. The Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study at the University of California, San Diego, is sponsoring the trial, which is funded through grants from the National Institute on Aging. Combined, they are hoping to recruit a total of 720 men and women. The Las Vegas center will be enrolling volunteers for about six months.
      Teresa Shah, social worker for the center's Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Neurology, said Alzheimer's tends to be a disease of denial.
      "I think once they start to realize there are other people, a lot of other people, who have these similar symptoms and that there are treatments, that can make it easier," Shah said. "There's no cure for it, but treatment can really make it easier and can slow down the effects of Alzheimer's and make it more manageable."
      An estimated 4 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's disease, and projections show that by 2050, 14 to 16 million people will have it.
      "For me, one of the most important things is reducing the stigma with Alzheimer's disease, because if we don't do that we are really never going to make any progress toward treatment," Shah said.
      The Alzheimer's Disease Diagnostic and Treatment Center is located at 1707 W. Charleston Blvd., Suite 230. Those interested in the Memory Impairment Study can 671-5070.