Normally when it comes to diagnosing Alzheimers disease, it’s a question of ruling out a variety of other similar symptoms. My grandmother might very well have been suffering from depression for several years (she visited my grandfather every day and he was in a vegetative coma from strokes – enough to depress anybody) before the Alzheimer’s hit.
However, there is a new treatment entering the final stages of clinical approval that involves injecting dye (a chemical called Flutemetamol) into the body (through the arm – not the head) 
and then scanning the head with a PET scan.
The dye locks onto the plaque causing Alzheimer’s and shows up as a red glow on the scan.
Diagnosis is pretty much a given when you can see concentrations of the plaque in forebrain areas. One issue as I understand it right now is the level of Alheimer’s and the level of “glow” is being studied to determine when the disease really hits. In other words, you may have a “glow” from the dye but not be exhibiting any symptoms. Will you then develop symptoms?
The expectation fron GE Healthcare is that if the trials continue to be successful, a commercial startup can be expected some time in 2012.
Karen Deutsch
November 19th, 2011
Dear Doug, Just paging through your website and found this on alzheimers. The information is welcome – you’ve found stuff that I’d never heard of. I am so sorry for your Mom. God Bless.
Karen Deutsch