The Importance of Early Detection
It is easier to control a campfire than a forest fire.
It is fortunate for most of us that new drugs have been developed, and continue to be developed, to help slow the progress of dementia. Although these drugs, which started to become available in the 1990s, can slow the progress of dementia, they have not been shown to reverse the disease and repair functioning.
Memory disease can therefore be likened to a fire consuming the natural growth around it. The longer one lets the fire go unchecked, the more natural resources the fire will consume, and the more difficult the fire will be to control. Similar to fires, it is critical to identify memory problems as early as possible so that they may be treated at their earliest stages.
Unfortunately, the Surgeon General reports that only 3% of those with mild to moderate memory impairment and less than 25% of those with severe memory impairment will be detected by their physicians (Report to the Surgeon General, 1999). This low detection rate is alarming, but understandable. The detection of small, abnormal memory changes takes both time and specialized training. Often physician have neither the time nor the training to detect small, abnormal memory changes.
At MARS, we provide the gold-standard in memory assessment and we recommend yearly assessments. The combination of a sensitive memory assessment repeated yearly provides a very sensitive mechanism for identifying the presence of memory disorders early in their formation. To find out more about MARS' memory assessment services, follow the links on the menu to the left.
The Importance of Early Detection
