A Presentation on Supercentenarians
From the Age Management Medicine Group, a diagram-rich article based on a presentation given by one of the folk from the Supercentenarian Research Foundation: "A Supercentenarian is anyone age 110 years or older. ... While the number of centenarians has been rising exponentially, the number of supercentenarians has remained flat. ... The most likely cause of death of Supercentenarians is called Senile Cardiac TTR-Amyloidosis ... SRF (Supercentenarian Research Foundation) has performed eight autopsies [of supercentenarians so far and six] of the eight cases have TTR-Amyloidosis as their common cause of death. This is the invisible barrier. ... Why do Supercentenarians live as long as they do? (How do they escape from chronic diseases, such as Heart Disease, Cancer, Stroke, Diabetes, and Alzheimer's Disease, which are the top diagnoses written today on Death Certificates in the US and limit the average life expectancy of older Americans?) Why don't they live longer than they do? (TTR Amyloidosis could be the Grim Reaper waiting in the wings for everyone, unless we figure out what to do about it first)."
Link: http://www.agemed.org/default.asp?page=ColesSupercentenarianAutopsyNov09