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Alzheimer’s Testing
by
Carolyn Dean, MD
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- There isn’t a definitive test for Alzheimer’s
- Brain scans show hope for Alzheimer’s testing
- Early Alzheimer’s diagnosis has benefits
Alzheimer’s testing is focused in several areas. There is no one definitive test for the condition, so it becomes a process of excluding other possible conditions, doing intensive memory and language tests, and performing more and more sophisticated brain scanning technology. Testing for Alzheimer’s includes memory and language tests, tests for existing brain damage and its association with Alzheimer’s, tests for blood chemistry changes and the association with Alzheimer’s, and neuroimaging.
We could learn a tremendous amount about Alzheimer’s if we could catch it on one of the many types of scans available in medicine. Sections of the brain are stained and viewed under a microscope, and it is only then that the tangles and plaques can be visualized. In the last ten years, however, several imaging systems have been developed that may show some promise in the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.
According to 2002 research, Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the brain may detect Alzheimer’s disease decades before the first clinical signs of dementia occur. When you have an MRI, you are injected with a dye called gadolinium; this isn’t the iodine dye used in CT-scans or x-rays. There is no x-ray radiation; a magnet produces the images.
According to a UCLA study, positron emission tomography (PET) scans can detect Alzheimer’s disease at its earliest stage. When you have a PET scan, you are injected with radioactive glucose (sugar) and exposed to radiation similar to a chest x-ray.
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