Beyond the Blood Tests: Why Amyloid PET Remains the Gold Standard

For many patients, the path to an Alzheimer’s diagnosis begins with a phrase that is more reassuring than diagnostic: “mild cognitive impairment.” As behavioral neurologist Dr. Marwan Sabbagh from the Barrow Neurological Institute explains, “I think doctors don’t know when a person goes from MCI to dementia. Even in the lay audience, people don’t understand that Alzheimer’s is a type of dementia and Alzheimer’s is the type. But I think they use the term MCI because they notice something wrong, and they don’t want to use the boogeyman word of dementia.”