Diagnosis

We recognize that the journey to an accurate diagnosis can be a long one for many families. We hope that connecting with our team will help provide a better understanding of your or your loved one’s symptoms and build a path toward the highest quality of care.

Early diagnosis is essential if we ultimately want to try to treat these conditions while people still only have mild symptoms. We specialize in diagnosing and treating several neurodegenerative conditions, including but not limited to Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA), Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA), Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD), Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), and Young-Onset Alzheimer’s disease. We also offer ongoing research opportunities focused on studying these disorders.

Our team has guided the field’s overall thinking about how to formulate a patient’s diagnosis, including information about their symptoms as well as information about the likely underlying brain condition that is causing those symptoms. We call this the 3-step diagnostic formulation: Step 1 refers to the functional status (e.g., Normal, Subjective Cognitive Decline, Mild Cognitive Impairment, Dementia), Step 2 refers to the cognitive-behavioral syndrome (e.g., Frontotemporal Dementia, Primary Progressive Aphasia, Posterior Cortical Atrophy, etc), and Step 3 refers to the underlying brain disease (e.g., Alzheimer’ disease, Lewy Body Disease, etc).

The initial clinical evaluation typically involves a neurologic assessment, neuropsychologic assessment, speech and language assessment, and potentially additional assessments by neuropsychiatry and social work. There are often tests ordered as well as brain scans and similar procedures. The evaluation is tailored to the individual, but many of these components are performed with each person. Once we are confident in a clinical diagnosis, additional support services and relevant research opportunities are offered to patients and families.