Unit of Alzheimer's and Other Cognitive Disorders

Clínic Barcelona Hospital has a multidisciplinary Unit focused specifically on the diagnosis and care of patients with Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative dementias. The Alzheimer's and Other Cognitive Disorders Unit (UATC) evaluates around 400 new patients each year and carries out nearly 1,200 successive visits, both from the Integral Area of Health Barcelona Esquerra (AISBE) and from other areas of Catalonia. All currently approved procedures for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative dementias (neuropsychological evaluations, cranial CT, MRI, FDG PET, amyloid PET, cerebrospinal fluid biomarker study, genetic studies and anatomopathological studies) are are available and are carried out in various areas at the Hospital Clínic.

The UATC is the landmark unit for diagnosis in the assistance route for community care for people with mild cognitive impairment or dementia of the Integral Area of Health Barcelona Esquerra (AISBE). In addition, it has several sub-specialized programs in which patients from other areas are accepted, both from Catalonia and from other autonomous communities. Among them the following stand out:

• The PICOGEN program, information and genetic advice for family dementias.
• The BIOMARK-DEM program for the biological diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases with cognitive impairment.
• Program for early-onset Alzheimer's disease (onset <65 years).
• Program for minority dementias: frontotemporal dementia, primary progressive aphasia, prion diseases, among others.

In addition to approved drug treatments, interested patients are offered the possibility to participate in clinical trials that evaluate the efficacy and safety of new drug therapies. Around 4,500 therapeutic sessions are also offered each year within cognitive intervention programs to patients with Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases (eg primary progressive aphasia) and who suffer from cognitive problems.