Dementia Flashcards
What are the 5 most common subtypes of dementia?
- Alzheimer’s disease
- vascualr dementia
- Dementia with Lewy bodies
- frontotemporal dementia
- mixed dementia
Define dementia
ICD-10 definition: a syndrome due to disease of the brain, usually of a chronic or progressive nature, in which there is disturbance of multiple higher cortical functions (e.g. memory, thinking, language, judgement). consciousness is not clouded. cognitive impairments are commonly accompanied by deterioration in emotional control, social behaviour or motivation.
List some funcitons of the frontal lobe
- emotional expression
- personality
- problem solving
- judgement
- motor funciton
- language
- motivation
- social behaviour
list functions of the temporal lobe
memory speech language comprehension auditory and visual perception emotional responses facial recognition
parietal lobe functions
learned skills such as reading, writing and calculations,
recognition of objects,
spatial awareness
the ability to perform complex skills such as driving and constructing things
Occipital lobe funcitons
spacial processing ability to determine between different colours spatial awareness colour and object recognition difficultites with hand/eye coordination vision
list 3 physical changes in the structure of the brain seen in Alzheimer’s disease
- Amyloid - increased formation of plaques
- Tau - hyperphosphorylated tau protein distrupts cell structure, integrity and funciton
- lower levels of ACh
symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease
- difficulty remembering recent events
- difficulties with language e.g. repetition, word-finding, conversation
- changes in ability to process and interpret visual information
- difficulties with decision making, problem solving, planning and sequencing tasks
- disorientation in time and place
- not recognising familiar faces
- reduced ability to perform everyday tasks e.g. cooking, shopping, finances
Risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease
- age (tend to be >65yrs)
- sex (more common in women)
- genetics
- poor physical health (e.g. inadequately controlled
What class of drugs are donepezil, rivastigmine, galantamine and what are they used to treat?
Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors.
used to treat Alzheimer’s disease.
they can delay worsening of symptoms, thus delaying need for institutional care
What class of drug is memantine? What is it used to treat and how does it work?
NMDA antagonist - blocks the effects of excess glutamate.
Used in Alzheimer’s disease to reduce symptoms
What is the most common form of dementia?
alzheimer’s disease
what is the second most common form of dementia?
Vascular dementia
risk factors for vascular dementia?
- age (tend to be >65yrs)
- sex (slightly more common in men than women)
- family hx (stroke, CVD, DM)
- poor physical health (poorly managed health conditions, high cholesterol etc.)
- lifestyle choices (smoking, excessie alcohol, lack of exercise)
What is the pathophysiology of dementia with Lewy bodies?
lewy bodies are clumps of proteins that build up and disrupt how cells communicate with one another.
May also see low levels of ACh and dopamine
What are some unique symptoms sometimes seen in dementia with Lewy bodies?
Hallucinations
parkinsonian features
What tends to be the cause of frontotemporal dementia?
associated with a mutation in tau gene
what are the 2 main types of frontotemporal dementia?
Behavioural variant (Pick's disease) Langugage types e.g. primary progressive aphasia
what is semantic memory
a type of declarative or explicit memory. It refers to the general knowledge (facts, ideas, meaning and concepts) we have accumulated throughout our lives.
e.g. semantic memory might contain information about what a cat is, whereas episodic memory might contain a specific memory of petting a particular cat
What is hyperorality and what type of dementia might you see this?
It’s an oral tendency, or compulsion, to examine objects by mouth.
Seen in some behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia cases
What is aphasia?
an impairment of language, affecting the production or comprehension of speech and the ability to read or write
