Abstract: The word "dementia" originates with Dr. Philippe Pinel of France. Back in 1801, Pinel reported a young female patient, aged 34, who was exhibiting some strange symptoms for someone in her age group. Pinel described this woman's condition as "demence", or an incoherence of mental faculties. It was believed that the term "dementia" came from this association. More than a century later (1906), Dr. Alois Alzheimer published a paper on one of his patients who had very similar symptoms and behaviors as Pinel's patient. This description, of a woman known as Auguste D, was the first scientific report of the disease now known as Alzheimer's disease. It is now clear that Alzheimer's disease is a major cause of dementia in elderly people as well as in relatively young adults. Research in the last two centuries has led to a greatly improved understanding of what Alzheimer's disease is, who gets it, and how it develops and affects the brain. Those works are beginning to pay off with better diagnostic techniques, improved treatments, and even potential ways of preventing these diseases.

Key words: Alzheimer disease, History of medicine, Review

摘要： 痴呆的概念最早于公元2000 年前由古埃及医师首先提出，中医学将其列入“呆病”、“文痴”、“善忘”、“郁证”、“癫证”、“狂证”等范畴。现代医学中“痴呆”即英文“dementia”，起源于法国著名医生Philippe Pinel博士，他于1801 年首先报告1 例34 岁女性患者，鉴于当时显微镜等技术的限制，并无详细的病理报告。直至一个世纪后（1906 年），德国医生Alois Alzheimer详细描述了该例患者的病理结果，才逐渐为人们所熟知。阿尔茨海默病的发现及发展史代表了现代神经内科的历史，也是从世界著名的法国Pitié-Salpêtrière医院到德国（欧洲）再到美国的现代医学发展史。

关键词: 阿尔茨海默病, 医学史, 综述