Unit of Alzheimer's and Other Cognitive Disorders

The Hospital Clínic Barcelona has a multidisciplinary Unit specifically focused on the diagnosis and care of people with cognitive disorders, especially those of neurodegenerative origin such as Alzheimer’s disease , dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia, primary progressive aphasia, and prion diseases, among others. Each year, the Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Cognitive Disorders Unit (UATC) assesses around 900 new patients and carries out 2,500 follow-up visits, with patients coming both from the Barcelona Esquerra Integrated Health Area (AISBE) and, in the case of rare diseases, other parts of Catalonia. All currently approved procedures for the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative dementias (neuropsychological evaluations, brain CT, brain MRI, FDG PET, and amyloid PET scans, the study of blood and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers, genetic studies, and anatomo-pathological studies) are available and carried out in the various units at the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona.

The UATC is the referral unit for diagnosis in the care pathway for community care for people with mild cognitive impairment or dementia in the Barcelona Esquerra Integrated Health Area (AISBE). It also has several sub-specialized programmes, which accept patients from other parts of Catalonia and other autonomous communities. They include:

• The PICOGEN programme, an information and genetic counselling programme for familial dementias. 
• The BIOMARK-DEM programme for the biological diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases with cognitive impairment.
• A programme for early-onset Alzheimer’s disease (onset <65 years).
• A programme for rare dementias: frontotemporal dementia, primary progressive aphasia, prion diseases, etc.

In addition to the approved pharmacological treatments, interested patients are offered the possibility of taking part in clinical trials that assess the efficacy and safety of new pharmacological therapies. Over 7,000 therapeutic sessions are also offered each month as part of cognitive intervention programmes for patients with Alzheimer's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia and primary progressive aphasia. These sessions are carried out at the Day Hospital for Neurodegenerative Diseases of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, located at Carrer Reina Amàlia 37-39, Barcelona.