In this Doctor on Call, a viewer writes in with a question about her 82-year-old mother. She says her mom still lives independently and drives, but has been having short-term memory problems; she wants to know if there are any tests that her mom can take to see if she has Alzheimer’s.
While there is no specific test for Alzheimer’s disease, a good doctor can determine with 90 percent accuracy whether someone has the disease.
In our viewer’s case, the doctor would interview the family, and then the mother. The family would be asked about the mother’s symptoms, while the mother would undergo what’s called a mini mental state test, where she’s asked to do tasks such as recite the correct time and date, follow simple directions and identify commonly known objects.
She’ll also be given a complete medical workup to ensure that the memory problems aren’t part of another medical condition.
