GETTING A DIAGNOSIS(2)

Margueritejudy

Back again. I’m the one with the sister with dementia who lives in the same independent living retirement community as me, but in a separate apartment. She does okay since I can send her reminders by text and visit her almost daily. We know she has dementia from her symptoms and the geriatrician agrees. She is scheduled for a CT scan of her brain next week. What will this scan be able to tell us? Can it tell the type of dementia? 

She has no short-term memory from day to day and her executive processing is bad so I handle all her financial matters and paperwork, doctor’s appointments, etc. Is it important that we do further testing at this point or can we wait until further symptoms develop to find out what kind of dementia she has.

harshedbuzz

MJ-

Knowing the kind of dementia does matter in some cases.

If the condition is actually one that mimics dementia and is treatable, you would want to get right on that. It's likely the geriatrician has already ruled out those using blood tests for vitamin and hormone deficiencies.

A CT scan may offer clues as to which kind of dementia she has. There is often characteristic shrinkage of brain mass in Alzheimer's; VD CTs from those with VD will show small white areas that represent scarring from previous cerebrovascular events (mini-strokes usually), Many PWD have two kinds of dementia- usually Alzheimer's and VD. Behavior and patterns of loss are sometimes used diagnostically as they can often be telling as to what parts of the brain are damaged.

Kind of dementia is critical for medication management. There are medications for Alzheimer's that are contraindicated for other conditions. Sometimes knowing what kind of dementia can help you prepare for care going forward but only in a very general sense.

HB

jfkoc

Dementia can be caused by things that are treatable. You must rule those out.

mommyandme (m&m)

The CT scan can also look for infarctions which are associated with stroke/brain bleeds.  Having a baseline pic of her brain will also help with comparisons if/when another CT might be called for.

Rescue mom

As others said, a big reason for the scans is to rule out other things that could be treated. 

And, this may not apply to you, but we have kids and other family who would not believe DH had any problems. They would ask him to do things he could not do. They’d be upset, and say he was in a bad mood, or didn’t “want” to. Or just being “spacey” when he didn’t know where he lived and got lost going a mile to his office of 40 years.

The scans pretty much removed that, and prevented unrealistic expectations.

But I think the way we caregivers handle their behaviors, is about the same no matter which dementia it is. (Sure as I post this somebody will prove me wrong, but IMO)

FTDCaregiver

Hello - Our path to get a diagnosis for my DW took roughly 6 months from the time I took her in to see her GP.  Referral to CAT, then onto a neurologist for MRI, both interpreted, atrophy present, inclusive for Dementia, though suspected but due to her young age (fifties), the neurologist ordered neuropsychological testing.   That came back inconclusive due to her very high anxiety level, which may have confounded results.  Finally, the neurologist ordered a PET scan, fortunately my insurance covered it and he was able to diagnose her as early on-set FTD. He pulled up the imaging onto his computer and pointed out the frontal and temporal lobe areas, gave me a diskette with the imaging as well.