Reanalysis of the first case of Alzheimer's disease.

When a disease becomes as important as Alzheimer's dementia, there is a natural interest in its medical history and in the origin of the underlying disease concept. Key to understanding Alois Alzheimer's views on the disease, which was named after him, are the histological sections of the cases he saw. This histological material was rediscovered in Munich in 1992 and 1997 (Neurogenetics 1997, 1:73-80; 1998, 1:223-228). An extensive neuropathological and molecular genetic analysis of the tissue is currently being carried out. The present article summarizes the history of the rediscovery and provides an analysis of the neuropathology of Alois Alzheimer's first case, Auguste D.