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Use of laboratory and imaging investigations in dementia

Department of Neurology and Alzheimer Center, Vrije Universiteit Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
W M van der Flier
Department of Neurology and Alzheimer Center, Vrije Universiteit Medical Center, PO Box 7057, 1007 MB Amsterdam, The Netherlands; wm.vdflier@vumc.nl

Keywords: dementia; Alzheimer’s disease; magnetic resonance imaging

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The diagnosis of dementia is a complicated enterprise. This is partly caused by the insidious onset of most diseases that cause dementia. The difficulty is clearly captured in the question: "Where does ageing stop and dementia begin?". The availability of symptomatic treatment (for example, acetyl cholinesterase inhibitors) and the development of new disease modifying drugs emphasises the need for improved diagnostic accuracy. Patients that are in the earliest stages of the disease may potentially profit most from disease modifying drugs. This further underlines the importance of a correct clinical diagnosis early in the course of the disease. During lifetime, with careful evaluation and the application of well defined, clinical criteria, "probable" diagnoses can be made with a relatively high level of accuracy. A definite diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) or most other diseases that cause dementia can only be made post mortem, after necropsy.

Neuropathology accumulates gradually, and it has . . . [Full text of this article]

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