Millions of families are affected by Alzheimer’s disease, which is the most common form of dementia. Patients with Alzheimer’s in Memphis require an increasing level of at-home healthcare as the disease progresses. This form of dementia begins with the impairment of short-term memory, and then progressively affects logical thinking, emotions, behavior, long-term memory, and eventually, basic bodily functions such as respiration.
For more information about the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease, watch this helpful animation. It explains how beta-amyloid protein plaques and neurofibrillary tangles develop within the brain, block communications between cells, and induce the death of nerve cells. You’ll also learn that the progressive nature of the disease is due to the gradual spread of plaques and tangles throughout the brain, beginning with the hippocampus.