When patients present with dementia symptoms, doctors don’t always know whether it’s Alzheimer’s, another form of dementia, or something else entirely. It matters because treatment can differ from one diagnosis to another. Now, a specialized PET scan can detect the amyloid plaques that mark Alzheimer’s, allowing doctors to make better diagnoses. But is it worth the cost?
–
當病人出現認知障礙症狀時，醫生大多未能斷定這是阿玆海默症，另一種認知障礙症，還是其他問題。然而，不同的症狀需要配合不同的治療，因此準確判斷症狀對日後的治療非常重要。目前，利用一種相當先進的正電子掃描(PET Scan)技術，能檢測到腦部形成阿玆海默症的斑塊，讓醫生可以做出更佳的診斷。不過這是否物有所值？