But early detection gives people a chance to plan for their future care while they still have the mental capacity to do so.

It also highlights some harsh unknowns. For example, do you medicate right away? Today's drugs merely alleviate symptoms for a temporary period.

''It's going to work a year or two and for whatever reason, it fades out. The question becomes, 'Do you want to use it now or wait until you become more symptomatic and maybe people are talking about your driving privileges?''' says Dr. Ronald Petersen, an Alzheimer's specialist at the Mayo Clinic.

Nor are there many support groups or research studies for high-functioning patients. Even the Alzheimer's Association acknowledges that until recently, its main focus in education and even legislative efforts for such things as respite care has been aimed at caregivers, not patients directly.

''What we're hearing from people with early-stage is they want that same level of attention,'' says program director Dr. Peter Reed, who monitored four meetings around the country that gathered about 300 such patients to advise the association about their needs.

One message: A huge hurdle is the stigma of a disease known mostly for its devastating end stage.

''Automatically people look at you like you're stupid,'' fumes Kris Bakowski, 52, who was diagnosed at the unusually young age of 46 and had to sue to keep her job for almost two extra years, until her symptoms worsened. ''Five minutes ago, you were carrying on a conversation. Now they see a big 'A' on your forehead.''

But dealing with that hurdle is timely — because increasing early detection also is key to better research into ways to prevent Alzheimer's or at least slow its worsening, several dozenof the disease's top specialist wrote in last month's journal Alzheimer's & Dementia.

Treating memory symptoms is ''like waiting until somebody with heart disease develops chest pains and then treating them,'' says Petersen, who co-authored the report with specialists gathered by the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute to identify research barriers.

A handful of experimental drugs are being tested for their potential to slow Alzheimer's by fighting the buildup of its hallmark brain plaque, called amyloid; some anxiously awaited study results are due out in July. Perhaps more important is testing the brains of healthy elderly people and those with mild memory problems to determine what changes signal impending Alzheimer's — so-called biomarkers that remain a critical gap in scientific understanding.