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Updated: Jul 14, 2026

The 4 Mountains Test: A Short Test of Spatial Memory with High Sensitivity for the Diagnosis of Pre-dementia Alzheimer's Disease
Published on: October 13, 2016
Diagnosing dementia in rural New South Wales
Patricia A Logan-Sinclair1, Alastair Davison
1Faculty of Health Studies, Charles Sturt University, Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia. psinclair@csu.edu.au
Objective:
Review of dementia screening case profiles that included brain blood flow imaging to determine contribution to diagnosis.
Design:
Retrospective medical case audit.
Setting:
Rural New South Wales.
Participants:
Eighty-eight rural patients who underwent investigations for dementia diagnosis.
Main Outcome Measure:
Contribution of brain blood flow imaging (single photon emission tomography, SPECT) to the dementia screening regime.
Results:
The age range of those referred was 21-88 years, the average being 70 years. There were 44 men and 44 women. Vascular causes of dementia accounted for 27% of all those referred for brain blood imaging. Senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type accounted for 40% of all referrals. The occurrence of mixed disease was 6%. Matching neuropsychological reports and computer tomography were available for 18 of the blood flow studies. Of these, 65% were in agreement or semi-agreement for the diagnostic outcome. Only five studies failed to reach consensus. GPs were responsible for 31% of the imaging referrals, and the remaining referrals were from the regions: two gerontologists, three physicians and two neurologists.
Conclusions:
Brain blood flow imaging did contribute to the final diagnosis of dementia type for these patients, influencing patient management.
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