Memory Disorders Registry

The purpose of this long-term, observational patient outcome registry at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is to collect information about subjects with memory disorders from their clinical care and treatment outcome(s). It plans to examine predictors of treatment outcomes among those individuals who enroll. Currently, there are no curative treatments for memory disorders, and this study hopes to collect information on the disorders. Over the next 6 years, this registry expects to recruit 600 adults over the age of 18 who are concerned that they may have a memory problem, or who have been diagnosed with a memory problem such as occurs in Age Associated Memory Impairment, Alzheimer's disease, Vascular Dementia, Mixed Dementia, Dementia with Lewy Bodies, Frontotemporal Dementia, Parkinson's disease, or Huntington's disease. The Memory Disorders Program owes its existence to patients agreeing to have their clinical information kept in a database for quality control and research purposes. This data will include physical and cognitive exams, laboratory tests and scans as well as information about their medications. Many potential subjects will call in with interest in our Memory Disorders Program, and a preliminary screening process will be performed over the phone. All potential subjects would be sent an informed consent document to look at before reviewing it with the study coordinator. Once they arrive at their initial visit, the research registry and its optional substudy (a postmortem exam available to all Cedars-Sinai patients) would be discussed with unlimited time for questions. If the subject, or his/ her surrogate decision maker (legally authorized representative, or LAR), consents to research, then his/ her clinical test results and (if applicable) the results of the postmortem exam will be kept on file for research purposes. If the subject/LAR consents, he/ she may also be contacted about any future research studies for which he/ she may be eligible. Patients who elect not to participate in this research will not be contacted for future studies. However, for those who are found to be ineligible and would like to learn about future studies as they arise, the Memory Disorders ICF offers them the option to be contacted in the future as new studies become available to them. This research study will involve no collaborations, inside or outside of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. However, the subject's clinical care will involve collaborations with other departments within Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. This registry will not involve any research-related costs, or any remunerative incentive.