Cognitive Neurology Flashcards
what is cognition?
mental action of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience and the senses
what process are encompassed by cognition?
attention
social functioning
language
learning and memory
diagnosis of dementia needs evidence of decline in how many cognitive areas?
at least one
what acute disorders can cause cognitive decline?
viral encephalitis
head injury
stroke
describe transient global amnesia
difficulty in laying down new memories
settles within 24 hours
transient global amnesia is common in which population?q
retirement
thought to be related to emotional change/trauma
which cognitive disorder is assoc w temporal lobe seizures?
transient epileptic amnesia
how long does transient epielptic amnesia generally last?
20-30mins
should repsond to anti epileptic medication
which subacute disorders can cause cogtinive decline?
alocohol
CO
neurodegeneration
metabolic
infection/inflammatory
what is functional cognitive disorder?
everyday forgetfullness that has an impact on functioning
(sympoms can flutuate but not attributed to any specific cognitive disorder)
what are some examples of ‘forgetfullness’ seen in functional cognitve disorder?
losing keys and wallet
forgetting car journeys
losing track of conversations
what is prion disease?
group of progressive neurodegenerative conditions
prion protein causes abnornal folding of proteins within the brain
what is the most common type of prion disease?
Creutsfeldt-Jakob disease
is creutz-jakob disease fatal?
yes
onset around 60 and usually die within a year
what are gradual onset disorders that cause cognitive decline?
alzheimer’s
frontotemproal dementia
vascualr dementia
dementia w lewy bodies
parkinsons
huntingtons
what protein is present in alzheimers disease?
amyloid plaques → present w forgetfullness
what is an unusual presentation of alzheimers?
posterior cortical atrophy- visuospatial distrubance
commonly referred from ophthalmology
what is teh age of onset of frontotemproal dementia?
<65yrs
what causes damage in frontotemproal dementia?
protein aggregation leads to cell damage
what are early frontal features of frontotemporal dementia?
disinhibition (no filter)
loss of empathy
compulsive beahviours
what is the age of onset of vascular dementia?
>65yrs
what will be present in vascular dementia?
cerbrovascular disease
small vessel disease in vascular dementia casues what symtpoms?
dec in attention
slowed processing
difficulty pallning
trouble understanding
dementia w lewy bodies leads to disruption of which pathways?
cholinergic and dopaminergic
fluctuating cognition and recurrent well formed visual hallucinations is seen in which type of dementia?
lewy body dementia
of frontotmeporal and vascualr dementia, which is early and which is late onset?
early onset = frontotemporal <65yrs
late onset = vascular >65yrs
