Dementia Japan 27: 316-323, 2013

Clinical diagnostic criteria for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, and the usefulness of neuropsychological examinations

Hiroaki Kazui¹⁾, Toshihisa Tanaka¹⁾, Fumihiko Yasuno²⁾, Masatoshi Takeda¹⁾

¹⁾Department of Psychiatry, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine
²⁾Department of Psychiatry, Nara Medical University

In this paper, we discussed clinical and neuropsychological evaluations to identify patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) in very early stage. For clinical evaluation, it is useful to confirm whether the patient's cognitive functions, such as memory, and daily-life functions have progressively declined based on information from someone who knows the patient well. In neuropsychological evaluations, it is important to identify the progression of memory impairment in a cross-sectional setting. It is useful to compare immediate and delayed recalls in memory test. It is also useful to compare delayed recall in memory tests and crystallized intelligence in intelligence tests. Immediate recall and crystallized intelligence are less likely to be impaired in AD. Underestimation of memory impairment by patients themselves might also indicate AD patients even in early stage.

Address correspondence of Dr. Hiroaki Kazui, Department of Psychiatry, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine (D3, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan)