Because dementia is
a syndrome which arises from many possible medical conditions, doctors must
work methodically to identify the root cause of a patient’s cognitive and
behavioral limitations.
Even though the
structural features of Alzheimer’s disease have been recognized for many
decades,there remains no definitive
way to confirm the presence of these changes in living patients.Since brain samples (biopsies) are not
generally obtained for this purpose -- due to the fact that brain surgery is
invasive, expensive, and potentially hazardous – physicians render the
diagnosis of Alzheimer’s by evaluating the quality and progression of
symptoms, and by ruling out other potential causes of disablity.
Many researchers are
now working to identify “biomarkers” which will permit the accurate
determination of Alzheimer’s disease, based upon non-invasive tests of
biological samples (blood, urine, cerebrospinal fluid) or via brain scan
techniques.For now, however, the gold
standard for determining Alzheimer’s disease remains the postmortem
examination of brain tissue – otherwise known as autopsy.