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The Carlat Psychiatry Report

Geriatric Psychiatry Update (August) | 2005

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The Man Behind Alzheimer’s Disease

August 1, 2005

As longtime TCR readers with good memories know, Alois Alzheimer (1864-1915) was a German neurohistologist who, in 1906, reported the phenomenon of plaques and tangles in the brain of a 51 year-old woman who had died after five years of progressive dementia (TCR October 2003). Read More

Marc Agronin, M.D., on Treating Agitation in Dementia

August 1, 2005

Marc Agronin, M.D.

TCR: Welcome back to The Carlat Report, Dr. Agronin. You were our expert in October of 2003 when we discussed the diagnosis of dementia, and I understand that since then you have been busy with a new textbook project. Read More

Rosack’s FDA Watch: Atypical Antipsychotics and the Elderly

August 1, 2005

Jim Rosack

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ordered manufacturers of atypical – or secondgeneration- antipsychotic medications – to add a new black-box warning to the drugs’ labels telling prescribers and patients that the drugs are associated with an increased risk of death when used to treat psychosis and behavioral problems in elderly patients with dementia. Read More

Namenda: Pining for Another Indication

August 1, 2005

Daniel Carlat, MD

In 2003, the FDA approved Namenda (memantine) as a treatment for moderate to severe Alzheimer’s Dementia (AD). Backed by the legendary marketing expertise of Forest Labs, the medication has become remarkably popular, gradually eating into the market share of the cholinesterase inhibitors (CIs). The question, as always, is whether this popularity is justified by the data. Read More

Cholinesterase Inhibitors: Under Siege

August 1, 2005

Daniel Carlat, MD

When Aricept (donepezil) was first approved by the FDA in 1996 for the treatment of Alzheimer’s Dementia (AD), there was an almost euphoric sense that we were finally beginning to make progress in treating a previously untreatable disease. Read More