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Published on: October 13, 2016
Finger agnosia in Alzheimer disease
Brian V Shenal1, Melissa D Jackson, Gregory P Crucian
1Department of Neurology, University of Florida College of Medicine, and Department of Veterans Affairs, North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Background And Objective:
The purpose of this study was to learn if a deficit of finger naming (finger agnosia or anomia) is a sensitive test for Alzheimer disease (AD) and the best means of testing for finger agnosia.
Methods:
The subjects were 38 patients with AD and 10 matched normal controls. All subjects were asked to name the thumb, index, and pinky fingers.
Results:
No control subject had trouble naming any of these fingers, but 37% of the AD subjects did. When AD patients had difficulty with finger naming, they always had trouble naming the index finger.
Conclusions:
In the absence of stroke, the inability to name the index finger seems as an indicator of dementia. Although brief, this test is not extremely sensitive test for AD.
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