Alzheimer’s disease turned out not to be as irreversible as was thought

Spanish researchers from the Sant Pau Research Institute have found that some brain changes in Alzheimer’s disease may decrease over time.

The finding concerns bright areas on brain MRI, which are usually linked to vascular damage and poorer brain function. It was previously thought that such changes only increase over time. However, follow-up of 80 adults with Down syndrome and 53 control participants showed a more complex picture.

The researchers carried out repeated MRI scans over several years and noticed that after age 40, the extent of the lesions did not grow in some participants and instead decreased. This happened especially often in people who already had symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.

Bright spots on MRI were previously thought to mainly reflect irreversible tissue damage. But more and more data now suggest that some of these changes may be related to temporary inflammatory processes or leakage of fluid from the brain’s blood vessels. If inflammation decreases, the spots decrease as well. This means that even in severe neurodegenerative diseases, the brain does not always move only toward deterioration.