Can a CT or MRI scan detect dementia? - Dr Simon Farmer

A CT scan is quite a weak way of detecting dementia. However, MRI scans can show specific patterns which will lend support to there being a diagnosis of dementia. However if a scan is performed without any clinical context or without expert assessment, then the scan can be quite misleading because people's scans can show changes of cerebral atrophy as a function of normal aging and they're actually very well so I would not advocate using a scan in isolation to diagnose dementia. It is inevitably an important part of the diagnostic process which
primarily involves clinical assessment.

Dr Farmer is a Consultant Neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery.
For further information or to make an appointment with Dr Farmer at the Queen Square Private Consulting Rooms, contact information can be found on his online profile here: