Dementia Flashcards
What are key features of dementia vs delerium?
dementia: Chronic, non-fluctuating
delerium is medical emergency and is acute
Key DDx of dementia:
dementia, neurodegenerative disease, chornic pysch disease
DDx for Acute mental status change that is non-flucutating, toxic metabolic derangment,
delerium
List of instramental ADL
• Cooking • House cleaning • Laundry • Management of medications • Management of the telephone • Management of personal accounts • Shopping • Use of transportation
Activities of Daily living
• Dressing • Eating • Ambulating • Toileting • Hygiene (Bathing)
Laundry list of Ddx for dementia
- Alzheimer’s disease • Vascular disease • Lewy Body disease • CVA • Depression • Frontotemporal degeneration • Hypothyrodism • Traumatic brain injury
- Substance abuse • Medication adverse reaction/side effect • HIV infection • Prion disease • Parkinson’s disease • Huntington’s disea
3 steps of mini-cog assesment
- remember three unrelated words
- Draw face of clock w/ 10 after 11:00
- Ask pt to recall words
Scoring of mini-cognitive exam
3 recalled words Negative for cognitive impairment
1-2 recalled words + normal clock Negative for cognitive impairment
1-2 recalled words + abnormal clock Positive for cognitive impairment
0 recall words Positive for cognitive impairment
What labs should we order for all pts with dementia?
CBC
Electrolytes
Creatine
Glucose
Vit B12
TSH
What is the cutoff for normal mental status in the MOCA test (out of 30)
below 26 suggest mental
What is the DSM-5 criteria for Dementia/Major Neurocognitive Disorder
A. Evidence of significant cognitive decline from a previous level of performance in one or more cognitive domains (complex attention, executive function, learning and memory, language, perceptual-motor, or social cognition) based on:
- Concern of the individual, a knowledgeable informant, or the clinician that there has been a significant decline in cognitive function;
AND 2. A substantial impairment in cognitive performance, preferably documented by standardized neuropsychological testing or, in its absence, another quantified clinical assessment.
The cognitive deficits interfere with ___________
The cognitive deficits do not occur exclusively in ______
The cognitive deficits are not________
independence in everyday activities
the context of a delirium
better explained by another mental disorder (e.g., major depressive disorder, schizophrenia).
What functional regions of the brain are implicated in dementia?
- Complex attention
- Executive function
- Learning and memory
- Language
- Perceptual-motor
- Social cognition
Gradual onset, Affected: Memory Language Visuospatial, Late Motor involvement with Gradual (8-10 y) progression and Atrophy, small hippocampal volume on imaging
Alzheimer’s Disease
Sudden & gradual onset, domain of brain affected and motor inovlement depends on area of brain: on imaging see ischemia pattern Cortical or subcortical MRI changes
Vascular dementia
Prevelence of dementia by age:
65-75:
>75
>85
65-75: 2-6%
>75: 12-13%
>85: 31%
Annabelle Arnold is a 90 year old female with a five year history of an insidious onset of slowly progressive dementia. She now requires assistance with bathing and dressing. Her husband manages her medications and finances. Her past medical history is significant for breast cancer, diabetes, and hypertension. Physical examination is positive only for kyphosis and slow gait aided with a walker. BMP, CBC, TSH, Vitamin B12 all WNL. MRI of the brain is most likely to show…
Atrophy of gyri, widening of sulci; lower brain weight,
• Diffuse plaque: extracellular accumulation of Aβ protein
Diffuse Plaque: amyloid plq seen in alzeihmers
extracellular accumulation of Aβ protein and tau containing neurites
• Neuritic plaque: amyloid plaque in alzeihmers
- Intraneuronal accumulation of an abnormally phosphorylated form of tau, a normal microtubule associated protein
- are not unique to AD: also found in other degenerative diseases
Neurofibullary Tangles (NFT)
Prognosis of Alzeihmers
•Estimates of median survival have traditionally ranged from 5 to 9 years with more recent data suggesting median survival close to 3 years with a range of 2.7 to 4 years
Alivia Arnold is a 75 year old female with clinical findings concerning for underlying Alzheimer’s disease. Which of the following are the most likely findings in the brain tissue upon autopsy?
NFTs
What meds can we use to tx cognitive issues of Alzeihmers
Cholinesterase inhibitors: Donepezil; Rivastigmine; Galantamine
– NMDA noncompetitive antagonist: Memantine
What meds can we use to tx behavioral symptoms of Alzeihmers
– Cholinesterase inhibitors and NMDA antagonists have some modest efficacy
– Atypical antipsychotics
– Mood stabilizers
– Antidepressants
Medications associated w/ delerium
Anticholingeric medications: plasma conc of these meds are directly related to increased delerium risk
What can we use to treat AD, dementia with Lewy bodies, vascular dementia
First line therapy to treat cognitive impairments in mild to moderate dementia
Drugs: Donepezil; Rivastigmine; Galantamine
Modest improvement, many side effects (1/3 have GI problems), muscle cramping and abnormal dreams
Used with caution in patients with bradycardia or syncope, because of vagotonic properties