These cross-sectional PET scans of the brain using the radiotracer 18F-FDG, depict the patterns in a normal patient and a patient with Alzheimer’s disease respectively. — Dr ALEX KHOO CHEEN HOE
These include loss of memory, thinking, comprehension, judgement, orientation and language, which all affects the ability to execute activities of daily living. Other causes include vascular dementia , Lewy Body dementia, fronto-temporal dementia, Parkinson’s disease dementia, and dementia due to medical-related conditions such as vitamin B12 insufficiency and hypothyroidism.
If detected early, medically-related conditions such as those due to the side effects of drugs, vitamin deficiencies, thyroid dysfunction and normal-pressure hydrocephalus can be treated.However, this is not routinely done and doctors tend to rely on clinical evaluation and imaging studies.