Scientists identify another type of dementia

Doctors are officially recognizing a new brain disorder that falls under the umbrella of dementia. While this new disease may come with many of the same symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, is thought to affect the brain differently and develop more slowly, and may be more common in elderly people.

The new type of dementia, called "limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy," or LATE for short, was identified and described in a new report published in the journal Brain on Tuesday. If the name sounds complicated, the disease is even more so: Because many forms of dementia can cause similar symptoms, and even overlap with each other, telling the difference and making the right diagnosis can get tricky.

But researchers are hoping that further research into the brain and the underlying causes behind these disparate types of dementia will help clarify things and lead to improved treatment options, CNN explained. For example, if drugs were designed to treat Alzheimer's, people who had undiagnosed LATE but thought they had Alzheimer's may have just thought their treatment didn't work — when actually, there might be new hope by seeking out treatments for this newly defined disease.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Further studies into LATE, and dementia in general, will be required in order to develop treatments that address the root causes and not just the symptoms. But this study is an important first step — a "roadmap," said Nina Silverberg, director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers Program at the National Institute on Aging. Learn more at CNN.