Dr.Walsh's Anticoagulant Therapy For Alzheimer's Disease

   Arthur Walsh,M.D.,throughout the 1960-1995 period, published extensively about his work with anticoagulant therapy for dementia patients [210-211]. Dr. Walsh believes that the cause of many kinds of dementias, including alzheimer's disease, is a "sludging" of brain vessels. Blood flow to the brain becomes seriously reduced by aging,cholesterol deposits,and aggregated erthyrocytes. It is the reduced blood flow that causes dementia, in Dr. Walsh's view. Dr.Walsh has carefully documented how successful his anticoagulant therapy has been for dementia; yet, very few mainstream physicians have used the therapy for dementia.
    What is Dr. Walsh's procedure for anticoagulant therapy? Dr. Walsh prescribes a course of oral sodium warfarin, an anticoagulant, for the demented patient. Initial dosing may be 20 milligrams daily, with 2.5 milligrams as a maintainence dose. Dr. Walsh records the baseline prothrombin time, a measure of blood clotting. To achieve clinical dementia relief, Dr. Walsh says the prothrombin time during therapy needs to be about 2 times the baseline prothrombin time. Results are seen almost immediately and continue as long as the therapy is maintained, according to Dr.Walsh.
    How successful is the anticoagulant therapy? Dr. Walsh in 1992 wrote a report detailing his dementia work. Dr. Walsh selected 500 patients randomly from his treated cases and reported on them. Remember, most of the cases that Dr.Walsh saw were demented patients who others gave up on. Many of his cases were considered "hopeless". Dr. Walsh reports that more than 65 percent of such patients show a worthwhile response to therapy; more than 15 percent of these patients show dramatic and long-lasting improvement [212]. I will relate here a typical case report, cited by Dr.Walsh [213].     Dr. Walsh treated a 74-year-old woman who was confused, talkative,and who had to be locked in a room at times; she was suffering from some sort of dementia. Her memory and thinking were bad. She could name only Bush and Carter as the last five presidents at the time. She could not do a simple arithmetic problem such as 4 x 16. She was started on a course of warfarin sodium by Dr. Walsh. Gradually, her memory and confusion improved. Two years later, the family reported that she was doing very well. She was able to help her husband with the income tax and to keep her checkbook again. The last two summers she also was able to enjoy a beach vacation with the family, going swimming and cooking as she used to.
    Dr. Jack Ratner, M.D. and others, in 1972, published an important confirming study of anticoagulant therapy in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society [214]. Fourteen demented patients were treated with warfarin sodium, 20 milligrams orally to start, with maintainence dosage at 2.5 milligrams. Prothrombin time was kept at 2 times the control value. The Wechsler Memory Scale, expressed as a Memory Quotient, was one main measure of memory. Anticoagulant therapy was given for up to 12 months. Demented patients receiving therapy had baseline scores of 44.9 on the Wechsler Memory Test; twelve months later, their scores had declined just a bit to 38.0. The demented patients not receiving the anticoagulant therapy had a major decline on the Wechsler Memory Test. At baseline their score was 44.7; 12 months later, their scores on the Wechsler Memory Test had plummeted to 14.9. With impressive results such as Dr.Walsh and Dr. Ratner report, one wonders why mainstream medicine has not paid more attention to their work.

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