Has China Found a Cure for Alzheimer’s?

I wish.

Not really. Although there are some promising developments.

Recently people have been sending me articles about a new surgical technique in China that has improved outcomes in Alzheimer’s patients.

The procedure, officially known as deep cervical lymphatic-venous anastomosis (LVA), aims to enhance the brain's waste clearance system by facilitating the removal of toxic proteins associated with Alzheimer’s Disease.

The waste clearance system for the brain is the glymphatic system. It dumps waste products from the brain into the lymphatic system.

If you have problems with your glymphatic or lymphatic systems, your brain can’t remove the garbage. The garbage piles up and hurts other parts of your brain.

We have a resident in one of our homes with Alzheimer’s that had surgery to remove a lot of their cancerous lymph nodes. I have a feeling that contributed to his cognitive decline.

The LVA surgery involves supermicrosurgical techniques to connect deep cervical lymphatic vessels to veins. This connection allows cerebrospinal fluid, carrying waste products, to drain more efficiently into the veins. The procedure is minimally invasive, and patients can typically resume normal activities shortly after surgery.

The results are impressive in the six people who have received the surgery so far. Especially since most Alzheimer’s drugs only slow down the progression. They don’t improve memory.

For instance, a 76-year-old patient with moderate Alzheimer's disease exhibited notable recovery in memory and communication abilities two months post-surgery.

• Performance on the Mini-Mental Status Examination, showed improvements from 5 to 7

• The Clinical Dementia Rating-sum of boxes improved from 10 to 8.

• The Geriatric Depression Scale score decreased from 9 to 0, indicating a reduction in depressive symptoms.

Family members have also reported positive changes. One patient's daughter noted, "My mother's memory is stabilizing and improving, and she is able to complete household chores every day."

It’s still pretty early and this doesn’t mean the patients brought their memory back. As a point of reference, the Mini-Mental exam scores people out of 30 points. Anything lower than a score of 24 indicates dementia.

So these patients have a long way to go.

A lot of the literature also talks about how this surgery is to target beta-amyloid and tau proteins. Those are what the medical industry keeps targeting in its pursuit of an Alzheimer’s cure.

Even though a lot of the research into beta-amyloid and tau was fraudulent.

I do, however, think it’s a great step in the right direction. We need people looking for innovative solutions.

I had one other takeaway from this surgery.

Guess when your glymphatic system is most active removing waste from your brain?

Those of you who said ‘when you’re sleeping’ win a gold star!

Seeing the success of this surgery indicates the importance of sleep in preventing and fighting Alzheimer’s disease.

Make sure you are prioritizing a good night’s sleep for you and your family. It can make a huge difference later in life.

If you want to read more about this surgery, the results were published in General Psychiatry, a part of the British Medical Journal.