JERUSALEM, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- A new electromagnetic system developed by an Israeli firm helps patients suffering from mild to moderate Alzheimer regain part of their cognitive skills through brain stimulation, proving to be more effective than drugs.
Developed by Neuronix, the NeuroAD system stimulates the area in the brain responsible for memory and learning, giving patients the same levels of memory they had two years before.
NeuroAD is uses a technology called NICE (Non-Invasive Cortical Enhancer) developed by Neuronix, that makes the memory area in the brain receptive to cognitive training.
Once the brain is stimulated, researchers expect an LTP (Long- Term Potentiation) in the patient, that usually degrades in Alzheimer patients causing cognitive skills to fade.
"The NeuroAD works with electromagnetic stimulation of the brain regions affected by the Alzheimer," Neuronix CEO Eyal Baror told Xinhua on Sunday, "and in parallel with this stimulation we give the patients cognitive tasks like remembering something from the past or language exercises."
The patient then uses the same brain region that is being stimulated to do those tasks, therefore making the effects longer, Baror said.
"We wanted to make the patient use this area of the brain for longer and not only use the cognitive training for seconds, like the normal Alzheimer therapy does," Baror commented.
Baror and his team found that even though elderly people without Alzheimer can gain some benefits from cognitive training, patients with the disease can't, or only benefit for a very limited amount of time.
By combining the stimulation of the specific area of the brain with cognitive training, patients remember for longer and can scratch up to two years of previous memory.
"The performance in the patients takes them two years back in the disease, but I want to clarify that it doesn't cure Alzheimer, it just improves their condition," Baror said.
Anyone who can still communicate and is still in contact with reality is eligible for the treatment, but it does not work with patients with advanced Alzheimer, Baror pointed out.
"Alzheimer is a terminal disease," he said, "and patients usually die after seven to ten years, while dementia usually comes after five years, so if we can bring their memory back in two years, that's already a huge improvement in their condition."
Baror plans to market NeuroAD in the beginning of the next year for the European and Asian market, though the Assaf Harofeh Medical Center in Israel is already using it.
"The Assaf Harofeh center is using the system with a high rate of success and up to now, it's the only available treatment for Alzheimer," Baror said, "there's nothing else asides of the drugs. We don't replace the drugs, they are used alongside with NeuroAD, but the drugs can't bring back the patients cognitive skills two years before treatment."
Source:xinhuanet