Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s disease is a brain disorder named for German physician Alois Alzheimer, who first described it in 1906. Scientists have learned a great deal about Alzheimer’s disease in the century since Dr. Alzheimer first drew attention to it.
Diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease has been frustrating because there has been no hard and fast way to make the diagnosis, except an autopsy after the affected has died. You could say with nearly 90% accuracy that someone probably had Alzheimer’s, but there was no way to be absolutely certain.
Finding Out If It Is Alzheimer Disease
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive, degenerative disease. Symptoms include loss of memory, judgment and reasoning; difficulty with day-to-day tasks; and changes in communication abilities, mood and behaviour.
Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease
Unfortunately, there is no one test that determines the presence or absence of Alzheimer’s disease. Through the process of elimination, physicians can make what is called a “diagnosis of exclusion.” This gives the individual and his or her family a direction for treatment and care. A diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease obtained through a complete medical examination is considered approximately 90 percent accurate.
At specialized centers, doctors can diagnose AD correctly up to 90 percent of the time. Doctors use several tools to diagnose “probable” AD, including:
Questions about the person’s general health, past medical problems, and ability to carry out daily activities;
Tests to measure memory, problem solving, attention, counting, and language;
Amyloid Plagues — Amyloid plaques are sticky clumps or patches of protein found surrounded by the debris of dying nerve cells in the brain of Alzheimer’s patients.
Neurofibrillary Tangles — These are the damaged remains of protein called tau, which are required for the normal functioning of the brain. In people with Alzheimer’s, threads of tau protein become twisted, which researchers believe may damage neurons and cause them to die.
Medication history - this should include allergies, experienced side effects from past medications, and a list of current medications and dosages. Not only will this inform any future prescription decisions; it also might reveal a medication interaction or overdosage that accounts for your or your loved one’s confusion and other symptoms.
Provides people with dementia with an opportunity to make decisions about their financial and legal affairs before they lose the ability to do so gives people with dementia a better chance to benefit from existing treatments.
The GP will probably make a referral to a specialist (a neurologist, a care of the elderly physician, a psychologist or a psychiatrist) for specialist tests. These may include the mini-mental state examination (MMSE), a series of questions and tests which investigate memory, language and mathematical skills.
Alzheimer’s Diagnosis Tests
Medical history: an interview or questionnaire to identify past medical problems, difficulties in daily activities and prescription drug use, among other things. The doctor may wish to speak to a close family member to supplement information.
Physical examination: which should include evaluations of hearing and sight, as well as blood pressure and pulse readings.
