title: Finger-to-Nose Test Findings in Alzheimer's Disease.
abstract: The finger-to-nose test is routinely performed during the clinical assessment of patients with cognitive impairments. Although widely known to screen for cerebellar dysfunction by unmasking appendicular ataxia, we have found that this test could also be interpreted from a cognitive perspective. We describe two typical signs observed at the finger-to-nose test in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients: the "second finger syndrome" and the "distal pressure sign". By retrospectively reviewing the medical records 461 patients followed at our academic memory clinic, we found that these signs are commonplace in AD, but not in vascular dementia or subjective cognitive impairment.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bergeron
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vermette
authors.forename: Justine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: De La Sablonnière
authors.forename: Anne-Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Cayer
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Laforce
authors.forename: Rémi W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Bouchard
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D008875:Middle Aged; D009460:Neurologic Examination / Q000379:methods*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; cerebellum; dementia; diagnosis