Olfactory Deficits in MCI as Predictor of Improved Cognition on Donepezil
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2016-03-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Odor identification deficits, which are a result of early Alzheimer's Disease (AD) pathology
in the olfactory bulb and tract as well as olfactory projection areas in the medial temporal
lobe (entorhinal and piriform cortex and hippocampus), lateral and central orbitofrontal
cortex and several other regions, occur in AD and strongly predict mild cognitive impairment
(MCI) conversion to AD. Our pilot data, along with converging findings in the literature,
suggests that odor identification deficits, both incremental change over time and change in
response to an anticholinergic challenge, may be clinically simple, relatively inexpensive,
predictors of cognitive improvement with acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (ACheI) treatment
with potential clinical implications for predicting improvement and monitoring ACheI therapy.