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NetWellness is a global, community service providing quality, unbiased health information from our partner university faculty. NetWellness is commercial-free and does not accept advertising.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
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NetWellness is a global, community service providing quality, unbiased health information from our partner university faculty. NetWellness is commercial-free and does not accept advertising.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
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Alzheimer's Disease |
Tests for Alzheimer`s Disease04/16/1999 |
Please tell me what tests should be done before a definite diagnosis of Alzheimer`s disease is made?
Thank you for your inquiry. You ask a very important question. Since there is no single diagnostic test for Alzheimer`s disease (AD), a complete medical and neurological examination is strongly recommended to account for dementia (memory loss) symptoms. Guidelines provided by the National Alzheimer`s Association for a complete evaluation include: *A detailed medical history, provided by the patient and someone who is well acquainted with the patient. This is necessary to establish progressive intellectual deterioration and identify personality changes, problems with memory and difficulty with daily activities. *A thorough physical and neurological examination, including testing of sensory and motor systems to rule out other disorders. *A mental status test essential to evaluate orientation, attention, recent recall and the ability to calculate, read, write, name, copy drawings, repeat, understand and make judgments. *A psychiatric assessment to rule out psychiatric disorders. *Neuropsychological testing to measure a variety of functions including attention, orientation, language skills and perception. *Routine laboratory tests, including blood work, urinalysis, chest x-ray, EEG, CT or MRI, and electrocardiogram. A diagnosis of AD is made when all other disorders that could cause dementia have been ruled out (e.g., stroke, depression, thyroid disease, nutritional deficiencies, brain tumors, head trauma, subdural hematoma, and normal pressure hydrocephalus, to name a few). However, of these, Alzheimer`s is the most common cause of dementia symptoms (about 56% of those affected by dementia have AD).
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Jon Stuckey, PhD Formerly Case Western Reserve University |
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David Geldmacher, MD Formerly, Assistant Professor of Neurology School of Medicine Case Western Reserve University |
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