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Tests and diagnosis
By Mayo Clinic staffFor the doctor to make a diagnosis of Lewy body dementia, you must have experienced a progressive decline in your ability to think, as well as two of the following:
- Fluctuating alertness and cognition
- Repeated visual hallucinations
- Parkinson's-like symptoms
No single test can diagnose Lewy body dementia. Instead, doctors diagnose the disease through a process of elimination — ruling out other diseases and conditions that may cause similar signs and symptoms. Tests may include:
Neurological exam
As part of your physical exam, your doctor may also check for signs of Parkinson's disease, strokes, tumors or other medical conditions that can impair brain function as well as physical function. The neurological exam may test:
- Reflexes
- Eye movements
- Balance
- Sense of touch
Mental status exam
A short form of this type of test, which assesses your memory and thinking skills, can be done in less than 10 minutes in your doctor's office. Longer forms of neuropsychological testing can take several hours. Your results are then compared with those of people from a similar age and education level. This can help distinguish normal from abnormal cognitive aging, and may help identify patterns in cognitive functions that provide clues to the underlying condition.
Lab tests
Simple blood tests can rule out physical problems that can affect brain function, such as vitamin B-12 deficiency or an underactive thyroid gland.
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
If your confusion comes and goes, your doctor may suggest an EEG. This test can help determine if your symptoms are better explained by seizures or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a very rare degenerative brain disorder more commonly known as mad-cow disease. This painless test records the electrical activity in your brain via wires attached to your scalp.
Brain scans
Your doctor may order an MRI or CT scan to check for evidence of stroke or bleeding, and to rule out the possibility of a tumor.
