CME: Alzheimer Disease: Therapeutic Updates, Best Practices, and Barriers to Care
ACCREDITATION EXPIRED: June 30, 2015
Activity Description / Statement of Need:
In this online CME self-learning program:
Alzheimer disease (AD) is a degenerative disease that most commonly affects the elderly, although it is occasionally detected as early as middle age. AD accounts for over half of all diagnosed dementia, the prevalence of which is increasing.
AD has traditionally been difficult to diagnose because its onset is oftentimes slow, progressive, and hard to detect, and a definitive diagnosis is presently made on the posthumous examination of a patient’s brain tissue. The disease is often undetected in its early stages because the symptoms can be similar to cognitive decline that is generally assumed to occur naturally with the aging process, such as forgetfulness and difficulty learning new information. When a patient presents with possible AD, the gathering of information from the family members and specific cognitive tests are used to rule out other possible diseases and to rule in the probable diagnosis of AD. There has been considerable recent advancement in the detection of AD, including the appreciation of new early-warning symptoms (e.g., apathy) and monitoring techniques (e.g., non-invasive brain stimulation).
Once there is a diagnosis of probable AD, one must determine which pharmacotherapy, if any, is most appropriate for treatment of the patient. There is also strong evidence for reducing incidence of AD through the treatment of AD risk factors: diabetes, midlife hypertension, midlife obesity, smoking, depression, cognitive inactivity, a low education level, and physical inactivity. It is thought that reducing the prevalence of risk factors by less than one quarter might prevent up to three million cases of AD worldwide.
Agenda
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Introduction, Disclosures |
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Epidemiology of and risk factors for AD
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Symptomology and diagnosis of AD
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Treatment in patients with AD
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Barriers to optimal care in patients with AD
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Summary, conclusions, and best practice recap |
Target Audience:
Healthcare professionals specializing in: family medicine, hospice care, internal medicine, neurology, palliative care, preventive medicine, vascular medicine, or those who otherwise commonly care for patients with AD or who frequently encounter them or their caregivers in practice.
This program is supported by an educational grant from Novartis
Release Date: July 01, 2013 -- Expiration Date: June 30, 2015
Faculty: Richard Stefanacci, DO, MGH, MBA, AGSF, CMD
Agenda
Learning Objectives
By the end of the session the participant will be able to:
- Describe what is presently known about the pathophysiology of AD.
- Describe the challenges associated with diagnosis and treatment of AD, including imaging studies.
- Apply existing diagnostic recommendations and criteria to practice in the management of AD.
- Identify the present treatment options currently available for management of AD and apply them to patient cases using evidence-based medicine.
- Evaluate a treatment plan for a specific patient based on degree of AD to optimize safety and efficacy, suggesting modifications for improvement.
Accreditation
ACCREDITATION FOR THIS COURSE HAS EXPIRED. YOU MAY VIEW THE PROGRAM, BUT CME / CE IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE AND NO CERTIFICATE WILL BE ISSUED.
Faculty Disclosure and Resolution of COI
As a provider of continuing medical education, it is the policy of ScientiaCME to ensure balance, independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor in all of its educational activities. In accordance with this policy, faculty and educational planners must disclose any significant relationships with commercial interests whose products or devices may be mentioned in faculty presentations, and any relationships with the commercial supporter of the activity. The intent of this disclosure is to provide the intended audience with information on which they can make their own judgments. Additionally, in the event a conflict of interest (COI) does exist, it is the policy of ScientiaCME to ensure that the COI is resolved in order to ensure the integrity of the CME activity. For this CME activity, any COI has been resolved thru content review ScientiaCME.
Faculty Disclosure: Richard Stefancci, DO, MGH, MBA, AGSF, CMD has received grant funding and/or consulting income and/or speaker's bureau income from Lundbeck, Novartis, GE Healthcare, Pfizer, Eisai, and Forest.
Disclosures of Educational Planners: Charles Turck, PharmD is an officer and part owner of ScientiaCME, LLC.
Commercial Support Disclosure: This program is supported by an educational grant from Novartis
Instructions
- Read the learning objectives above
- Take the Pre-Test (optional). Completion of the pre-test will help us evaluate the knowledge gained by participating in this CME activity.
- View the online activity. You may view this is in more than one session, and may pause or repeat any portion of the presentation if you need to.
- Minimum participation threshold: Take the post-test. A score of 70% or higher is required to pass and proceed to the activity evaluation.
- Complete the activity evaluation and CME registration. A CE certificate will be emailed to you immediately.
System Requirements
Windows 7 or above
Internet Explorer 8
*Adobe Acrobat Reader
Mac OS 10.2.8
Safari or Chrome or Firefox
*Adobe Acrobat Reader
Internet Explorer is not supported on the Macintosh
*Required to view Printable PDF Version
Please take a few minutes to participate in the optional pre-test. It will help us measure the knowledge gained by participating in this activity.