Dementia

Question 1

Frontotemporal degeneration

Answer 1

part of frontotemporal dementia → presents with early changes in behaviour and personality or aphasia (due to damage to the frontal + temporal lobes which control these functions); memory impairment happens later on

Question 2

Neurofibrillary tangles

Answer 2

Alzheimer’s disease → these patients have personality changes, mood swings and paranoia. Memory and language are also often impaired. Alzheimer’s tends to progress gradually/progressively as opposed to a step-wise fashion

Question 3

Vascular dementia

Answer 3

multiple infarcts caused by cerebrovascular disease, resulting in the characteristic step-wise deterioration in neurologic function → this patient appears to exhibit this step-wise deteriotation, as opposed to a continuous, gradual decline in function, which makes it typical of vascular dementia (2nd most common cause of dementia, behind Alzheimer’s)

Question 4

Lewy body dementia

Answer 4

Lewy body formation → associated with Lewy body dementia → causes visual hallucinations, REM sleep disorders, parkinsonian movement symptoms and fluctuating cognition, most of which are absent here

Question 5

alzheimers disease characteristics

Answer 5

Cortical atrophy and NFT
these are also characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease → these patients have personality changes, mood swings and paranoia. Memory and language are also often impaired. Alzheimer’s tends to progress gradually/progressively as opposed to a step-wise fashion

Question 6

parkinsons

TRAPS

Answer 6

Degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra

TRAPS

A. Degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra → this is the pathology of Parkinson’s, which would more likely manifest with a pill-rolling Tremor, Rigidity, Akinesia/bradykinesia, Postural instability and a Shuffling gait (Parkinson’s TRAPS the patient)

Question 7

ballismus

Answer 7

the subthalamic nucleus is one of the structures in the basal ganglia responsible for inhibiting movement,

lesion of subthalamic nucleus removes inhibition= wild flailing

Question 8

Huntington’s disease

Answer 8

Degeneration of GABA neurons in striatum

he main symptom would be chorea (involuntary, irregular, jerky movements) due to a lack of inhibitory neurotransmission as a result of decreased GABA; these wouldn’t be big flailing movements though

Question 9

alzheimers

Answer 9

Amyloid beta plaques in the grey matter