Changing the future for patients with memory loss and dementia

Changing the future for patients with memory loss and dementia

30 Sep 2022

It’s impossible to have worked in health without having seen the impact of dementia on patients and their loved ones. Most of us have been deeply touched by dementia, whether it is by having known or cared for, a loved one, a relative or a friend who is affected.

The disease starts as early as a person’s 40’s, long before symptoms appear. This is because the brain can adapt over time, while the disease slowly and insidiously affects the brain. 

Symptoms often start with short-term memory problems but ultimately progress until the disease has a severe impact on most aspects of a person’s life. Currently there is no approved treatment that can prevent or slow the disease, and consequently dementia is now the number one cause of death of women in Australia.

To address this, St Vincent’s is being proactive in efforts to improve outcomes for patients and families affected by, or at risk of, dementia.

Specifically, in response to the community need, St Vincent’s has identified neurosciences as one of its priority areas, and designated it as an emergent Centre of Excellence for the hospital. 

This Centre of Excellence builds on the experience of our clinicians spanning neurology, neurosurgery, geriatrics and mental health and with this foundation, we expect not only to have an increasingly powerful impact on dementia, but a range of serious conditions that can affect the brain, nervous system and mental health and wellbeing.

 More recently, the new Centre for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine (CNRM), led by Professor Bryce Vissel and his team, are focusing on a multi-pronged approach to solving the disease, and thereby embarking on research that is intended to improve our understanding of, and approach to treating, dementia and Parkinson’s disease.  Already the team have made important and exciting discoveries that offer important hope for a new way forward in the treatment of these diseases. 

Concurrently, the research team are working closely with clinicians and are also involved with efforts underway to create a Precision Memory Clinic that will be led by neurologists, Professor Brew and Dr Elisheva Vissel. 

This collaboration will ensure hospital care is always based on the latest science, research and knowledge, and they are well poised to achieve world leading impact on the understanding and treatment for devastating conditions of the brain that currently have no cure. 

(Cover photo courtesy of Fairfax)