A dementia assessment involves a detailed history including an account from someone who knows you well, cognitive testing, a physical examination, blood tests to exclude reversible causes, and usually brain imaging. It typically takes more than one appointment.
A dementia assessment involves a detailed history including an account from someone who knows you well, cognitive testing, a physical examination, blood tests to exclude reversible causes, and usually brain imaging. It typically takes more than one appointment.
Bring someone who knows you well, because their observations are often the most valuable part of the history and the person experiencing the changes has usually adapted around them. Expect questions about what changed, when, and in what order, since the sequence distinguishes dementia types. There will be cognitive testing, which most people find uncomfortable; it is a measurement rather than an examination you can fail, and knowing that in advance helps. A physical and neurological examination follows.
Blood tests look for contributors that are treatable, including thyroid function, vitamin B12 and metabolic abnormalities. A full medication review matters particularly, since several common drugs impair cognition and the total number taken is itself a factor. Brain imaging is usually arranged, performed at an imaging centre since these offices have no imaging suite, and the report is reviewed here. Where a specific answer would change decisions, biomarker testing may be discussed; it is arranged externally and interpreted alongside everything else.
Results are usually discussed at a follow-up rather than the first visit. The answer may be a specific diagnosis, mild cognitive impairment, or that no dementia is present and something else explains the changes. All three are real outcomes. Ask what the diagnosis rests on, what would change it, and when you should be seen again, because a diagnosis with no stated review interval leaves families managing alone. Bring someone to that appointment too, since it contains more information than anyone retains.
Clinical Neurology Specialists has been physician-owned since 1998, when Leo Germin, M.D., FAANEM founded it. Five board-certified neurologists and four advanced practice providers see patients at the Las Vegas and Henderson offices, each with its own AANEM-accredited electrodiagnostic laboratory.
Clinical Neurology Specialists is an adult outpatient neurology practice for patients 18 and older. The practice performs no surgery and operates no imaging suite, infusion suite or interventional pain programme, and provides no emergency or inpatient care.
Physician-reviewed. Reviewed by the physicians of Clinical Neurology Specialists — board-certified neurologists, AANEM-accredited electrodiagnostic laboratories, physician-owned since 1998. Reviewed 1 August 2026. This article is general education for adults 18 and older and is not a substitute for a consultation.
Sources and further reading: MedlinePlus: Alzheimer disease; National Institute on Aging; MedlinePlus: memory.
Adults 18 and older, at the Las Vegas and Henderson offices. Call 702-804-1212 or request an appointment online.