Neuropsychological examination in dementia.

The chapter reviews neuropsychological screening and diagnostic tools applied to patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related disorders. The chapter analyzes the tests to be applied to detect and assess deficits in specific cognitive domains and brings home the fact that neuropsychological tests, formal or informal, have always been fundamental for the clinical diagnosis of AD and other dementias. The recent development of pharmacological treatment for AD and other dementias, and the introduction of new therapies in the near future, make the assessment of dementia at its different stages a scientific challenge of significant consequence for public health. It examines that the majority of tests used for screening and diagnosis of dementia show good sensitivity and good specificity in the moderate stage of the disease, but not in the early stage. Therefore, the need for a more solid and theoretical framework for the assessment of dementia is becoming more apparent.