Tests for Alzheimer's

Alzheimer's disease is a brain disorder and a form of dementia that results from damaged neurons, or nerve cells. Although there is no cure for Alzheimer's disease, early diagnosis is important because there are drug treatments for the disorder.

Basic Diagnosis

• When a doctor first diagnoses Alzheimer's patients, she looks at their symptoms to make sure that they are not suffering from another physical or psychological condition. Most often a physician will start by checking a patient's blood pressure, hearing and pulse. She also looks at the patient's blood count, thyroid and liver function, and glucose levels.

Neuropsychological Testing

• A more advanced form of testing is neuropsychological testing, which measures patients' memory, problem-solving ability and motor coordination. There are also neurological tests, which are more often performed on people in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's disease; these examine reflexes, balance and eye movements.

Brain-Imaging Scan

• A brain-imaging scan looks at whether there are tumors or blood clots in a patient's brain, which could result in symptoms that are similar to Alzheimer's disease, such as memory loss and disorientation. Doctors generally use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computerized tomography (CT) scanning to look at your brain.

Other Tests

• Other tests that physicians may perform on patients with Alzheimer's disease are single proton emission computed tomography (SPECT) or positive electron tomography (PET) scans. SPECT scans look at circulation of blood in your brain. PET scans examine brain responses during certain activities, such as reading.

Emerging Tests

• Some physicians are starting to use early diagnosis tools for Alzheimer's disease, which look at people's personalities and cognitive abilities. Some of these tools include memory and recall tests.