Jebelli Joubin, Hamper Michael C, Van Quelef Danielle, Caraballo Davian, Hartmann James, Kumi-Diaka James
Cancer Biology & Biochemistry, Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, Boca Raton, USA.
Neuroimmunology, Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, Boca Raton, USA.
Cureus. 2022 Mar 24;14(3):e23461. doi: 10.7759/cureus.23461. eCollection 2022 Mar.
Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe a loss of cognitive function which results in the interference of an individual's daily life and activities. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's is classified as a progressive, debilitating neurodegenerative disease that results in disturbances to a patient's higher executive function, memory, language, and visuospatial orientation. Despite extensive research on Alzheimer's dementia, including both available and potential therapeutic modalities, this neurodegenerative disease is incurable and will continue to pose a major public health concern. Current treatment options for Alzheimer's focus on symptom management and/or delaying the progression of the disease. Therefore, new treatment strategies must be developed to combat such a deadly disease. One field of medicine that has garnered significant interest from researchers to potentially treat Alzheimer's is low-dose ionizing radiation. Various reports suggest that the brain's exposure to low doses of ionizing radiation may serve as a therapeutic modality for combating neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's dementia. This article serves as a review of the current available treatments for Alzheimer's disease and discusses recent studies that provide evidence for the potential use of low-dose ionizing radiation as a therapeutic in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
痴呆症是一个概括性术语，用于描述导致个人日常生活和活动受到干扰的认知功能丧失。最常见的痴呆症形式是阿尔茨海默病。阿尔茨海默病被归类为一种进行性、使人衰弱的神经退行性疾病，会导致患者的高级执行功能、记忆、语言和视觉空间定向出现障碍。尽管对阿尔茨海默病痴呆症进行了广泛研究，包括现有的和潜在的治疗方式，但这种神经退行性疾病仍然无法治愈，并将继续成为一个重大的公共卫生问题。目前针对阿尔茨海默病的治疗选择侧重于症状管理和/或延缓疾病进展。因此，必须制定新的治疗策略来对抗这种致命疾病。医学领域中一个引起研究人员极大兴趣、有可能治疗阿尔茨海默病的是低剂量电离辐射。各种报告表明，大脑暴露于低剂量电离辐射可能作为对抗神经退行性疾病（包括阿尔茨海默病痴呆症）的一种治疗方式。本文对目前可用的阿尔茨海默病治疗方法进行了综述，并讨论了最近的研究，这些研究为低剂量电离辐射作为治疗阿尔茨海默病的潜在疗法提供了证据。
