[WhitneyLand]

My understanding is it’s still the primary hypothesis as the cause, but this hypothesis is not conclusive and is still being actively debated for multiple reasons.

There was a research scandal a while back that called into question some amount of data. And there’s the fact that many attempts at attacking the plaques have not been able to show any significant improvement to patients.

[pedalpete]

You're right, primary hypothesis is better way to state this.

You're also mostly correct that attacking the plaques have not shown significant improvement.

But that only shows that the damage done to the brain is irreversible - if in fact the plaques are the cause/related. It does not show that preventing the plaques/damage is the key.