Auguste Deter was loud and disoriented. It took a lot of effort from the Frankfurt Psychiatric Hospital staff and the clinical psychologist, Dr. Aloise Alzheimer, to contain her. Showing signs of paranoia because of sleep disturbance and marked memory lapses, Frau Deter came across as a very intriguing patient to Dr. Alzheimer that fateful day in 1901. When the patient admitted in confusion that she had lost herself in response to a probing question, Dr. Alzheimer knew that it could be a breakthrough case.
Past forward to 1906. Dr. Alzheimer was informed that after unsuccessfully battling her lingering illness, his patient Frau Deter had succumbed to its ravages. His former head at the hospital, Dr. Emil Sioli, was kind enough to send Dr. Alzheimer samples of her brain material for his further study knowing that he had closely followed the case. With his background in neuroanatomy, Dr. Alzheimer examined the brain tissues under a microscope and paved the way for the identification of what is now known as Alzheimer’s disease- a collection of messy neurofibrillary tangles and clusters and large deposits of amyloid plaques. Afflicting mostly people over the age of 65, the brain shrinks over time as the disease progresses and causes dementia. Looking at the samples, Dr. Alzheimer did not wonder anymore why Frau Deter exhibited strange and recalcitrant behavior.
Dr. Aloise Alzheimer formally presented his findings on Auguste Deter’s malady to a conference of South-West German Psychiatrists on November 3, 1906. He expected a grilling from his peers in the profession because of the gravity of the findings. Instead, there were very few questions raised. It was a case of the politics of the profession getting in the way of a sublime moment in medical history. In 1909, Dr. Alzheimer republished his findings along with that of other patients who exhibited the same bewildering condition as that of Frau Deter. In 1910, the eminent German psychiatrist, Emil Kraepelin, a friend of Dr. Alzheimer, included a narration of Frau Deter’s case in his psychiatry textbook. It was Dr. Kraepelin who named the illness, Alzheimer’s disease in honor of the work done by his colleague.
by Carl Kegerreis, author of the book, I Wish I Had Those Gasoline Pellets
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