Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia, and classic symptoms plus memory tests often are enough for a reliable diagnosis. Older types of PET scans show what region of the brain appears most affected, of limited help. One of those is the IDEAS study, which is testing the impact of amyloid-detecting PET scans in more than 18,000 Medicare beneficiaries. Researchers check if doctors' initially recorded treatment plans — medications, counseling or additional testing — were altered by patients' PET results. Most changes involved medications that can temporarily ease Alzheimer's symptoms, said Rabinovici, who presented the findings at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in London.

Source: ABC News July 19, 2017 07:39 UTC