Alzheimer’s Tests
One of the most important aspects of dealing with Alzheimer’s is early detection. Early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s has many advantages to the victim and their families, allowing for opportunities to deal with the physical, mental and emotional effects of Alzheimer’s disease. With Alzheimer’s, knowledge is power. Knowing and recognizing the symptoms of Alzheimer’s is the most effective way to deal with experiences of memory loss, behavioral shifts, confusion and other symptoms when they happen. When Alzheimer symptoms become identifiable, they are less frightening for family and friends. Once accepting of Alzheimer’s, early diagnosis allows patients and family to build the best medical team for their case, and also makes available current and experimental drugs and treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.
Upon appearance of symptoms of Alzheimer’s, one must find a doctor that the patient and family feel comfortable with. While there are no specialists in Alzheimer’s, The American Alzheimer Association can help with finding doctors who are knowledgeable and comfortable with the Alzheimer’s disease. These doctors might also refer patients to neurologist, psychiatrists or psychologists who specialize in mental function and can quickly detect and diagnose Alzheimer’s.
There is no single test that proves someone has Alzheimer’s. Rather, the medical workup for Alzheimer’s is designed to evaluate overall health conditions and identify mental problems. Estimates show that a regular physician can diagnose Alzheimer’s with 90 percent accuracy, and even if they can only divulge it as dementia, a brain specialist can certainly identify Alzheimer’s. Be prepared to tell your doctor when Alzheimer’s symptoms started, how often and how severe they are, as this will help determine the stage of Alzheimer development. Interviews with family members are standard when diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease and medical history of relatives will be thoroughly examined. Also, complete physicals and diagnostic tests are very common in order to identify if other disorders are causing Alzheimer symptoms. Brain imaging has also revolutionized the way doctors can look at and map the brain. Typical Alzheimer’s work-ups involve magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and sometimes computed tomography (CT). Also, positron emission tomography (PET) and function MRI maybe employed in order to reveal how brain cells in various regions are working through their use of sugar or oxygen.
When assessing mental function and Alzheimer’s risk, often times doctors will recommend the mini-mental state exam (MMSE) which tests the patients’ range of everyday mental skills. Sample questions include but are not limited to:
- Remember and repeat a few minutes later the names of three common objects.
- State the year, season, day of the week and date
- Count backward from 100 by 7s or spell “world” backwards
The maximum MMSE score is 30 points. A score of 20 - 24 suggests mild dementia, 13 - 20 suggests moderate dementia, and less than 12 indicates severe dementia. On average, the MMSE score of a person with Alzheimer’s disease declines about 2 - 4 points each year.
Another Alzheimer’s test used is the “mini-cog” which includes two tasks: 1) remembering and a few minutes later repeating the names of three common objects, and (2) drawing a face of a clock showing all 12 numbers in the right places and a time specified by the examiner. Both tests are good indicators of mental capacity and can reveal symptoms that might overlap with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.