Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examinations: ACE, ACE-R, ACE-III, ACEapp, and M-ACE

Abstract

The Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination (ACE) was originally developed as a theoretically motivated extension of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) which attempted to address the neuropsychological omissions and improve the screening performance of the latter. Though taking longer to administer than the MMSE, and therefore best suited to specialist settings, ACE and its subsequent iterations, ACE-R and ACE-III, have proved easy to use, acceptable to patients, and have shown excellent diagnostic utility in identifying dementia and cognitive impairment in a variety of clinical situations (Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal lobar degenerations, Parkinsonian syndromes, stroke and vascular dementia, brain injury). The most recent development, the Mini-Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination (M-ACE), takes no more time to administer than the MMSE but, like the longer versions, is superior to MMSE in diagnostic utility. The utility of ACE/ACE-R has prompted translation into various languages, and this trend is anticipated to continue for ACE-III and M-ACE.