Dementia Flashcards
What are Lewy bodies
Eosinophilic, intrcytoplasmic neuronal inclusion bodies
Features of Lewy body dementia
fluctuating
Hallucinations (visual)
Parkinsonism
REM sleep disorder
What is the most common cause of dementia
Alzheimer’s disease
Risk factors for Alzheimer’s
old age trisomy 21 FH APP ApoE4 head injuries
Neurodegenerative proteinopathy in Alzheimer’s disease
B-amyloid plaques extracellularly
Tau neurofibrillary tangles intracellularly
Clinical presentation of Alzheimer’s
Memory loss and forgetfulness
chronic / insidious onset
lack of insight
later: difficulty with language, behaviour, depression and orientation
Management of Alzheimer’s disease
Mild/mod - AChE inhibitor rivastigmine
2nd line NMDA antagonist memantine
What is another name for frontotemporal dementia
FTD
Pick’s disease
atrophy of frontal and temporal lobes
What is the onset of FTD
early onset dementia
Features of FTD
frontal disinhibition
apathy
loss of insight
changes in character and social deterioration
aphasia: semantic and progressive non-fluent
Histological findings in FTD
Pick’s cells - swollen neurons
Pick’s bodies - intracytoplasmic filamentous inclusions
What is vascular dementia
cumulative damage to the brain via hypoxia ie successive cerebral infarcts
What is Creutzfeldt Jakob disease CJD/Prion disease
neurodegenerative disease with abnormal prion protein
What is gold standard investigation of CJD and its finding
Biopsy - spongiform change on histopathology
list acute forms of dementia
transient global amnesia transient epileptic amnesia viral encephalitis trauma stroke
what is transient global amnesia
acute anterograde amnesia preserved knowledge of self
lasts 4-6 hours
what is transient epileptic amnesia
episodic isolated memory loss associated with temporal lobe seizures with response to AEDs
Prion disease is an acute/subacute/chronic cognitive disorder
subacute