Affiliations: [a] Bosch Institute, Sydney, Australia | [b] Discipline of Physiology, University of Sydney | [c] Discipline of Anatomy and Histology, University of Sydney | [d] Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Sydney, Australia
Correspondence:
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Correspondence to: Jonathan Stone, University of Sydney F13, NSW 2006, Australia. Tel.: +61 2 9351 4740; Fax: +61 2 93516470; E-mail: [email protected].
Abstract: This review traces evidence that age-related dementia (Alzheimer's disease) results from the destructive impact of the pulse on cerebral vasculature. Evidence is reviewed that the neuropathology of the dementia is caused by the breakdown of small cerebral vessels (silent microbleeds), that the microbleeds result from pulse-induced damage to the cerebral vessels, and that pulse becomes increasingly destructive with age, because of the age-related stiffening of the aorta and great arteries, which causes an increase in the intensity of the pressure pulse. Implications for therapy are discussed, and evidence is reviewed that pulse-induced destruction of the brain, and of another highly vascular organ, the kidney, are becoming the default forms of death, the way we die if we survive the infections, cardiovascular disease, and malignancies, which still, for a decreasing minority, inflict the tragedy of early death.
Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, causes of death, dementia, pulse, vascular aging
