Alois Alzheimer and Oskar Fischer – 110th anniversary of important publications on dementia

Overview

In 1907, Alois Alzheimer published his case study of a woman (later identified as Augusta Deter) with a progressive disorder with psychotic symptoms and deterioration of cognitive functions which caused her death. Alzheimer’s case study included both description of clinical symptoms and pathological findings in her brain. Emil Kraepelin, professor of psychiatry in Munich and Alzheimer´s immediate superior, included in his textbook of psychiatry a description of this disorder as Alzheimer´s disease. Oskar Fischer from the Prague university psychiatric department published, in the same year, 16 cases of senile type dementia, described pathological changes of their brains, and compared these findings with a control group of brains of persons without brain disorders or with other brain disorders. The scientific contribution of both physicians is important and we should remember them both. We owe more detailed research to Oskar Fischer and his work in Prague.

KEYWORDS:
dementia – Alzheimer´s dinase – Alois Alzheimer – Oskar Fischer