An Alzheimer's "miracle" drug could shrink the brains of patients.
A drug for Alzheimer's could end up shrinking the brain
A huge medical breakthrough was made last year as the first drug that slows the progression of the disease was approved in the United States but some experts are urging caution.
Lecanemab was shown to slow cognitive and functional decline in early-stage Alzheimer's patients by 27 per cent over 18 months.
The UK is set to make a decision on whether to approve the drug but boffins have warned that people who take it could lose volume in their brains.
Rob Howard, a professor of Old Age Psychiatry at University College London, said: "Patients who've had these drugs, their brains seem to shrink faster than people who get placebo.
"Obviously, losing brain volume is something we've always regarded as being a very bad thing. If you look at the studies, the imaging data does seem to suggest that people are actually losing probably slightly more than a teaspoon of brain.
"My anxiety in the longest term is people may be showing these tiny benefits over 18 months. But if their brains have actually shrunk, what's going to happen to them in three years and five years, eight years?"