Imaging the brain in dementia: expensive and futile?

Summary The verdict is obvious. There is really no choice but toimage a patient with dementia to rule in the most likelydiagnosis, to rule out unsuspected disease, and to con-tinue to advance our understanding of the disease pro-cesses and their longitudinal progression. Although thecost is substantial, the potential benefits justify the expen-diture. As new treatments and treatment strategies be-come available, the cost to the patient and to society of notscanning dementia will far surpass the cost of scanning.Thoseresearchersandclinicianswhodoggedlypressed onduring years of painstakingly slow progress are finallybeing vindicated. References 1. Schoenberg BS. Epidemiology of Alzheimer’s disease and otherdementing disorders. J Chronic Dis 1986;39:1095–11042. Clark RF, Goate AM. Molecular genetics of Alzheimer’s disease. Arch Neurol 1993;50:1164–11723. Evans DA, Funkenstein HH, Albert MS, et al. Prevalence of Alz-heimer’s disease in a community population of older persons:higher than previously reported