How safe is clinic lecanemab in practice?
Among 234 memory-clinic patients on lecanemab, infusion reactions (37%) and ARIA (22%) were common but generally manageable; mild dementia had much higher symptomatic ARIA.
Source
Lecanemab Treatment in a Specialty Memory Clinic
Study at a glance
- Design
- Cohort — Retrospective consecutive case series of specialty-clinic lecanemab initiations
- N
- N=234 · Patients with early symptomatic AD receiving ≥1 infusion
- Population
- Early symptomatic Alzheimer disease patients at Washington University Memory Diagnostic Center
- Outcome
- Infusion reactions, ARIA (including symptomatic), and treatment withdrawal
Structured fields used in claim comparison tables when every cited study has a complete layer.
What they did
Reviewed consecutive lecanemab starts (Aug 2023–Oct 2024), dosing every 2 weeks, MRI monitoring, and adverse events through Dec 2024.
What they found
IRR 37%; ARIA 22% (ARIA-E 15%, isolated ARIA-H 6.7%); symptomatic ARIA 5.7% overall but 27% in mild dementia vs 1.8% in MCI/very mild; 9.8% withdrew (4.3% for ARIA); no macrohemorrhage/death.
The limits
What it doesn't show
Long-term efficacy vs placebo in this clinic sample, or risk under every eligibility exception.
Key terms
- Lecanemab
- Anti-amyloid monoclonal antibody for early symptomatic AD.
- ARIA
- Amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (edema/hemorrhage).
- ARIA-E / ARIA-H
- Edema/effusion vs hemorrhagic ARIA subtypes.
- CDR
- Clinical Dementia Rating of functional severity.
- Appropriate use recommendations
- Clinic eligibility guidance beyond the FDA label.
- Infusion-related reaction
- Acute reaction during/after IV dosing.
Flashcards
Research intelligence for this paper
See its role on concept claims, tensions it is part of, placement history, and related discoveries.
Quiz yourself
Clinic lecanemab initiations reported?
Common questions
N treated?
234.
ARIA rate?
~22% of at-risk patients.
Who had more symptomatic ARIA?
Mild dementia (27%) vs MCI/very mild (1.8%).
Deaths/macrohemorrhage?
None in this report.
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