How is Alzheimer’s disease diagnosed?

The most important manifestation of Alzheimer’s disease is dementia. Forgetfulness is very common in elderly people due to age related changes or due to the stress of the modern day living. This is clearly different from dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease.

Though Alzheimer’s disease is not curable, meaning there is no definitive treatment for the disease, diagnosing the disease at an early stage is important to ease the living of the patient as well as the caretakers. More often, it is the caretakers of the patient with Alzheimer’s disease most stressed out because of the problems occurring secondary to the disease.

How can diagnosing the Alzheimer’s disease help?

It is not helpful because the diagnosis of the disease would not change the management of the patient. But it would help gain an understanding of the reasons behind the behavior of the patient. At an early stage of the disease, the diagnosis would also enable the physician to start the medications to control the progress of the disease. These medications are only helpful during the initial stages of the disease, so an early diagnosis is very important.

How is Alzheimer’s disease diagnosed?

History: The evaluation of the patient would start with a detailed history. A young individual would recognize the symptoms and might be concerned. In case of an elderly, the family might be concerned of the patient. The recent behavior, the symptoms manifested, any unusual or uncommon patterns of behavior should be noted down. The date of onset of the symptoms or atleast the time duration of the present symptoms should be noted. Also, the mental status of the patient, the life style including the stress levels should be asked for. Any family history of the disease should be considered as well.

Cognitive tests: since dementia is the important symptom of the disease, a cognitive test to assess the level of forgetfulness is important. A mini mental status exam is conducted which might show lack of attention, affected problem solving, memory loss etc.

Investigations: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) scan could be conducted and may show brain changes, which may be considered as diagnostic.

A microscopic evaluation of the brain tissue is the only confirmatory test of Alzheimer’s disease. Since this is not possible, the physician has to depend on the history of the illness, the cognitive tests as well as the brain scans to make a diagnosis.