Tests

There is no a single test for diagnosing Alzheimer's disease. Your doctor can only diagnose probable Alzheimer's disease after a thorough medical, psychiatric, and neurological evaluation, to rule out all other possible causes of dementia. Alzheimer's disease cannot be positively diagnosed until after death, when the brain can be closely examined for certain microscopic changes caused by the disease. However, through thorough testing and a "process of elimination," doctors today can diagnose probable Alzheimer's with almost 90 percent accuracy. Diagnosing Alzheimer's often entails:

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• Taking a detailed medical history
• Performing general and neurological examinations
• Giving specific tests that measure cognitive skills
• Performing certain blood studies
• Analyzing images of the brain

This section has more on:

• Why dementia should be evaluated by a doctor
• What your doctor may well do first
• Tests your doctor might recommend