Diagnosis

How is Alzheimer’s Diagnosed?

Though there isno single test to detect whether someone has Alzheimer’s disease, careful examination of the person’s physical and mental states can lead to a closer conclusion.

Caregiver or a close relative can provide insights about the person’s behaviour, identifying difficulties he has developed in performing routine tasks such as getting dressed, travelling alone, purchasing household items from the market, managing daily work or even in using household appliances like knife, spoon or iron.

A simple test known as Mini Mental State Examination is useful wherein the person is examined in two ways. First through various questions like, “What’s the date today? Which city we are in?” or through a test where he is asked to identify common items such as watch, key-chain, pen, etc. The second half of the examination is to ask the subject to follow a series of simple instructions.

Doctors will check the person’s medical history, make a physical examination, and ask for a CAT scan to be taken to rule out the possibility of other diseases.

A 100 percent confirmation of the presence of Alzheimer’s can be made only with a brain autopsy.

The importance of early diagnosis

It is depressing to have a doctor confirm an illness. And if it is Alzheimer’s there is reason to be really troubled. But this should not stop you from getting an early diagnosis, if you have detected the symptoms. You can get more out of life before things get worse.

There is ongoing research for treatment and there are medicines available that at least hope to relieve patients of some of the symptoms of the disease.

You can plan for the future (when making independent decisions is going to get difficult) and make arrangements. This will involve financial decisions as well as decisions on whether to participate in research, or arrange to donate brain tissue after death for research.

Should the patient be informed of the diagnosis?

Yes. Especially in the early and middle stages there is a definite benefit in informing the patient.

If a person knows about his/her Alzheimer’s disease and understands the process of its progression, he/she can plan to make most of the remaining years with initial stages of memory loss.

An AD patient can make arrangements for care that he might require. He can make financial decisions as well as decide to participate in research, or arrange to donate brain tissue after death for research. Informing the person about his disease could be a one-to-one talk, in front of family members or personally through doctor. This will depend on the personality of the patient.

Treatment

Currently there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease. Three FDA approved drugs-donepezil [Aricept], tacrine [Cognex], and rivastigmine [Exelon]-may temporarily relieve some symptoms of the disease. Medication and non-pharmacological therapies are also available to reduce some of the behavioural symptoms associated with Alzheimer’s, such as depression, sleeplessness, and agitation.