Mayo Clinic scientists have developed criteria that healthcare providers can use to diagnose a memory loss syndrome often mistaken for Alzheimer's disease.
Neurodegenerative conditions are challenging to diagnose as they can have similar symptoms. For example, vascular dementia, Alzheimer's, and frontotemporal dementia are all associated with forgetfulness, confusion, and mood or personality changes.
That's why a person who suspects they might have some form of dementia must undergo extensive cognitive testing and physical assessments to receive the correct diagnosis.
Still, doctors can't always pinpoint which type of dementia a person has, especially if there are no established diagnostic criteria for the condition. In addition, some neurodegenerative conditions can’t be confirmed until a clinician examines the brain tissue after the individual has died.
However, researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, have identified the hallmarks of an obscure form of dementia called limbic-predominant amnestic neurodegenerative syndrome (LANS), which could help doctors diagnose the condition and offer more targeted treatments.
Diagnosing LANS
The criteria, published on July 17 in Brain Communications, include factors such as memory loss severity, age, and brain scan and biomarker results to confirm a LANS diagnosis. The researchers identified the proposed diagnostic criteria using information from the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Mayo Clinic Study of Aging, and the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative.
"In our clinical work, we see patients whose memory symptoms appear to mimic Alzheimer's disease, but when you look at their brain imaging or biomarkers, it's clear they don't have Alzheimer's. Until now, there has not been a specific medical diagnosis to point to, but now we can offer them some answers," said senior study author and Mayo Clinic neurologist David T. Jones, M.D., in a news release.
Jones notes that these and other proposed criteria create a precise framework that other medical professionals can use to diagnose the syndrome and make treatment decisions, which may include amyloid-lowering drugs and involvement in clinical trials.
This could also help misdiagnoses with Alzheimer's disease when it's LANS.
"Historically, you might see someone in their 80s with memory problems and think they may have Alzheimer's disease, and that is often how it's being thought of today," said first author Nick Corriveau-Lecavalier, Ph.D. "With this paper, we are describing a different syndrome that happens much later in life. Often, the symptoms are restricted to memory and will not progress to impact other cognitive domains, so the prognosis is better than with Alzheimer's disease."
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