Hca 322

Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease
Denise Gray
SOC 313
Prof. Mark Mussmann
October 7, 2013Dementia disorders are characterized by a progressive decline of multiple intellectual abilities including memory. There are differing types of dementia, each contributing to its own causes and deficits. Common early signs or symptoms of dementia differ depending on the type of dementia. Types of dementia include Alzheimer ’s disease, Vascular Dementia, and Dementia with Lewy Bodies, Parkinson ’s disease, Huntington ’s disease and Alcohol Related Dementia. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease accounting for up to 80% of cases. Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth-leading cause of death (Alzheimer’s Association, 2013). Early signs of Alzheimer’s may include progressive and frequent loss of memory or confusion. With the number of those affected by the disease increasing, developing, testing and implementing specific treatment to slow or arrest the disease progression and enhance quality of life for individuals with Alzheimer’s is imperative in the United States and worldwide.
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive brain disorder characterized by a dementing disorder that occurs in middle or late life. The clinical criteria for probable diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease can be made if there is a typical insidious onset of dementia with progression and if there are no other systemic or brain diseases that could cause the progressive memory loss or other cognitive deficits. The diagnosis stages of Alzheimer determining possible and definite requires histopathologic confirmation along with the standard methods of examination: medical history, neurologic, psychiatric and clinical examinations and lab tests. The Alzheimer’s Association published in the 2013 Alzheimer ’s Disease Facts and Figures that one in three seniors die with Alzheimer’s or another type of dementia.
There are several cognitive symptoms of Alzheimer’s that progress form mild to…