A screening test for AD
Early diagnosis of AD is not only difficult, it's impossible. True certainty becomes moot when we patients finally slip over the edge. Still, final diagnosis can only be affirmed at autopsy.
So those of us in very early stages, certain there is something wrong but still hopeful it might not be true, must wait for the shoe to drop. Patient frustration and anger is understandable. Doctors are saddled with inadequate diagnostic tools but must worry about other issues. The liability of making a wrong diagnosis in a disease as diabolical as AD is a lawsuit waiting to happen.
I just read an article about new research that may be a breakthrough in early detection of AD using the old technology of the electroencephalogram (EEG). If so, this might be the end of the search for a simple, inexpensive screening tool that can be administered at regular intervals in those over 40 years old, much like the pap smear, mammogram or prostate test. The world of AD would suddenly change, for the better.
So those of us in very early stages, certain there is something wrong but still hopeful it might not be true, must wait for the shoe to drop. Patient frustration and anger is understandable. Doctors are saddled with inadequate diagnostic tools but must worry about other issues. The liability of making a wrong diagnosis in a disease as diabolical as AD is a lawsuit waiting to happen.
I just read an article about new research that may be a breakthrough in early detection of AD using the old technology of the electroencephalogram (EEG). If so, this might be the end of the search for a simple, inexpensive screening tool that can be administered at regular intervals in those over 40 years old, much like the pap smear, mammogram or prostate test. The world of AD would suddenly change, for the better.
Don, it would be great if we could diagnose Alzheimer's with an EEG. I wonder if we'll be able to diagnose sub-types of dementia this way.
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