In the vast experience of the board are MRI results normally clear in Early Alzheimers? Are spots/lesions more indicative of something like vascular dementia?
I believe so, at least as far as early AD goes. My husband's first MRI (a few years ago) showed no abnormality. One from last year, a year or so post-Dx, showed 2 microbleeds or "mini-strokes." Ruptures of capillaries.
As the person progresses these will occur (but only with some people) because the amyloid plaques can form inside the small vessel walls and sometimes cause these bleeds.
Another change that will eventually be apparent in an MRI is overall brain shrinkage, but this usually indicates some real progression of the disease.
Some MRI never progress into Alzheimer's. Some Vascular Dementia, especially if there is a clear reason for the disease never progress. In my husband's case there was a chance that once he got the pacemaker in that the damage that had been done on that day was all the damage that was going to happen. We didn't get lucky, and the disease is progressing.
I spend a lot of time on line trying to learn things about this group of diseases and found the information about why doctors diagnose MRI instead of Alzheimer's for younger early stage patients was that sometimes the disease doesn't progress and sometimes, although rarely, MRI patients get better instead of worse.
But when you get to Stage 5 it is time to change the name of the diagnosis.
Yes, spots/lesions are indicative of vascular damage.
AD itself does not show up on an MRI per se. However, vascular dementia and AD often go hand-in-hand. So seeing lesions does not mean that AD is NOT present.
MRI will show the degree to which the brain is shrinking, and people with early AD may show an unusual degree of shrinkage. That, by itself, is not diagnostic.
Typically, if the MRI and other diagnostic tests are consistent with AD, the doctor will order a PET scan, which shows areas of the brain that are unable to metabolize glucose properly.
Starling, I suspect you're thinking of MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment). Catherine is asking about MRI (magnetic resonance imaging.)
Starling, I didn't know you had dyslexia. That must have been tough, all these years. And on top of everything else you've been going through ... the mind boggles.
Anyway, I was actually thinking more of Catherine wondering what you meant, rather than trying to correct you. Somebody asked what MCI was very recently -- a lot of people haven't heard the term.
I cracked the reading code in the 4th grade. I went from reading at the 2nd grade level to the 6th grade level almost overnight. I was reading at the high school level in the 6th grade and discovered in College that one of my favorite Egyptian History books was considered too difficult for an undergrad. <grin>
Spelling was another story. I use spell checkers heavily, including on Web based forums. (And yes, that is possible.)
I am only now learning how to add. I had big problems with arithmetic. Calculus was no problem!
You remind me of an extraordinary woman I know. She had a serious speech impediment for most of her childhood, could not talk intelligibly at all. When she was in her late teens, she started going to yet another of a long line of therapists. This one taught her to learn what her tongue was doing by feeling it with her hand, and training it to go where she wanted by exhaustive repetition. After years of struggle, she got to the point that she spoke so well, she was able to work as a lobbyist/activist in Washington. Nowadays, people never realize she has a problem. It only shows up when she is very tired -- she will slur her words ever so slightly, so people sometimes think she's had one too many.
(We ALL use spell checkers heavily ... or else produce documents with lots and lots of misspelled words!!!)
The only problem with spell checkers and calculators is that they were invented just a bit too late for me to do some of the things I would have enjoyed doing while I was still working.