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Home > Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the Context of Earlier Diagnoses of Alzheimer's Disease: Opening the Conversation to Prepare Ethical Responses.

TitleComplementary and Alternative Medicine in the Context of Earlier Diagnoses of Alzheimer's Disease: Opening the Conversation to Prepare Ethical Responses.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2016
AuthorsRacine, E, Forlini, C, Aspler, J, Chandler, J
JournalJ Alzheimers Dis
Volume51
Issue1
Pagination1-9
Date Published2016
ISSN1875-8908
KeywordsAlzheimer Disease, Complementary Therapies, Early Diagnosis, Ethical Analysis, Humans
Abstract

Preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD), a newly proposed, actively researched, and hotly debated research-only diagnostic category, raises the prospect of an ethical dilemma: whether, and possibly how, to treat a disorder with no target symptoms. This proposed category rests on the detection of a number of biomarkers thought to provide evidence of AD pathophysiology years before any behavioral symptoms manifest. Faced with limited treatment options, patients and their relatives may come to consider complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) a viable option, albeit one with minimal supporting evidence. Accordingly, the hopes and needs of some preclinical patients and their relatives could further fuel market-oriented entrepreneurship for CAM. In this ethics review, we provide background and reflect on some ethical questions related to the roles of key stakeholders arising from the potential for CAM use in the context of a possible preclinical AD diagnosis.

DOI10.3233/JAD-150534
Alternate JournalJ. Alzheimers Dis.
PubMed ID26836152
Grant List / / Canadian Institutes of Health Research / Canada
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Source URL: https://www.j-alz.com/content/complementary-and-alternative-medicine-context-earlier-diagnoses-alzheimers-disease-opening