Guidelines for diagnosing LATE
Diagnosing LATE dementia is getting a little easier thanks to new criteria created by a group of experts. Here’s the gist of what they wrote in the journal “Alzheimer’s and Dementia.”
People with LATE dementia may have pretty good immediate memory, but have a harder time with what doctors call delayed recall (remembering something they learned earlier in the day).
They may also have a harder time remembering some words, such as the names of animals, than people without LATE dementia.
With LATE, other intellectual processes usually aren’t affected for a while. However, that can change as the disease progresses.
As Milano noted, LATE is slow to progress. The longer a person goes without other significant dementia-related problems, the more likely it is that they have LATE instead of Alzheimer’s disease.
LATE is uncommon in people under 75
The guideline experts said LATE also causes changes in the hippocampus of the brain, a key player in learning and memory. Milano has seen the reality of that.
“That’s where we see this TDP-43 pathology,” he said. “It’s right in the hippocampus. And we really see pretty striking, atrophy or shrinkage of that area on the brain scan to the point that if you see severe hippocampal atrophy on a brain scan, it makes you think about LATE.”
Working toward treatments for LATE
Right now, there are no treatments for LATE. While its symptoms look like those of Alzheimer’s disease, the cause is different. “So the treatment has to be different,” Milano said. “That pushes us to research LATE.”
Some of that research will take place through the South Carolina Alzheimer’s Network, also known as SCAN. The network, based at MUSC Health, brings together specialists in not just Alzheimer’s disease, but also other memory and cognitive conditions to ensure people get early and accurate diagnoses, coordinated care, new medications and clinical trials.