Alzheimer's diagnosis revamp embraces rating scale similar to cancer

FILE PHOTO: Dr. Seth Gale points out evidence of Alzheimer's disease on PET scans at the Center for Alzheimer Research and Treatment (CART) at Brigham And Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., March 30, 2023. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo

(Reuters) -Alzheimer's disease experts are revamping the way doctors diagnose patients with the progressive brain disorder - the most common type of dementia - by devising a seven-point rating scale based on cognitive and biological changes in the patient.

The proposed guidelines, unveiled by experts on Sunday in a report issued at an Alzheimer's Association conference in Amsterdam, embrace a numerical staging system assessing disease progression similar to the one used in cancer diagnoses. They also eliminate the use of terms like mild, moderate and severe.