Susan Howe Crowson hopes researchers will soon discover a reliable diagnostic test for Alzheimer's disease. At public sessions held last summer by the Alzheimer's Association, she spoke about the need for better, earlier diagnoses, "so families can plan for the future."
Only an autopsy can definitively detect Alzheimer's now. Howe Crowson's father, Warner Howe, died of Alzheimer's Feb. 8 at age 91. She had visited him several years ago and found his memory failing, even though his neurologist had given him a clean bill of health two weeks before.
"My mother had just died," says Howe Crowson. "I took my father back to their apartment, and he couldn't find the bathroom, which was right next to the bedroom, or his pajamas. He was like a lost puppy." She took him back to the neurologist. His memory issues weren't shock-related, but a bad diagnosis the first time.
Alzheimer's can be detected by an "experienced physician" 90% to 95% of the time with various cognitive tests done over a period of time, along with input from a family member who has seen mental changes in the loved one, says Bill Thies, chief medical and scientific officer for the Alzheimer's Association. A diagnosis from a blood test does not exist yet.
The association's website, alz.org, lists early warning signs and how to find an experienced doctor.
"We're still several years away from a standard clinical (cognitive) test," Thies says.
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