This was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal.
It appears we still have a long way to go to be able to diagnose Alzheimer's and to treat it.
https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/why-doctors-cant-agree-on-how-to-diagnose-alzheimers-4b7c7190?st=fDXYvo&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
My neighbor with dementia just finished a regime of neurospych testing with the results that he is declining. His wife said she knew he was declining and felt worse to have it confirmed. Why do it?Too much of this testing is just done because "the family wants a diagnosis." That is not a good reason to keep testing. These
costly tests and dr appts are not needed just to make the family feel better or worse. Let the person live the rest of their lives in peace.
My wife has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease for 3 years now. She is 79 yo. First she showed mild cognitive symptoms, and her PCP ordered an MRI. It was interpreted to show "normal slight brain atrophy of aging." Her cognition tests showed "mild cognitive decline." Cognition symptoms worsened, and cognition testing now showed early stage dementia. He referred her to a neurologist who diagnosed Alzheimer's disease based solely on cognitive symptoms. She refused to order any physical tests. The blood tests were not yet available, and she felt the diagnosis was sufficiently definitive to make lumbar puncture and pet scans not needed. I with misgivings acquiesced. I thought I probably should take my wife to a university center in Seattle, but allowed the local neurologist to dissuade me.
Now her blood tests, this winter, show tau ratios that are NOT interpretable as Alzheimer's. Her PCP (the neurologist left the practice and another is not locally available) insists that her dementia is due to Alzheimer's, and possibly also is vascular (she is Type I diabetic, but well controlled), but also says, "What does it matter? She DOES have dementia, and that is what matters." I agree with that, and am doing my best to care for her, but a definitive diagnosis would help me emotionally. He refuses to order a PET scan, and I don't want to put her through the lumbar puncture.
Any advice from this group?