Dementia is a progressive brain dysfunction that results in limitations with daily activities and increases with advancing age. Alzheimer’s patients commonly suffer from dementia and require long term care to help aid with impaired memory and orientation dysfunctions such as concentration, proper judgment, personality changes, and impaired motor skills.

In order to better diagnose and treat dementia in a patient, you may order brain imaging tests such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computed Tomography (CT), and Positron Emission Tomography/CT (PET/CT).

Procedures

MRI

MRI uses a combination of radio waves and a magnetic field to obtain remarkably detailed images of the brain. MRI images of the brain are clearer and more detailed than other imaging methods, enabling the detection of abnormalities that might be obscured by bone on a CT or x-ray.

CT

A CT uses a special x-ray technique to obtain multiple images from different angles and then joins them together using advanced computer technology to show 2 dimensional and even 3 dimensional images of the spine.

PET/CT

A Positron Emission Tomography/CT test provides anatomical detail, such as size or location of a mass, and metabolic detail, such as cellular activity of a mass. Inland Imaging’s PET/CT scanner is one of the most powerful imaging tools available in our region.