Dementia- clinicial Flashcards
Dementia
- Definition
Syndrome due to brain disease that consists of:
- Progressive cognitive impairment
- Affects everyday living
Domains of cognition
Memory: anterograde loss of episodic memory Language Visuospatial Executive: working memory - All affected in dementia
Epidemiology of Dementia
Doubles every 5 years with increasing age
1 in 10 over 85 have dementia.
Non progressive causes of dementia [4]
Head injury
Stroke
Meningitis
Encephalitis
Progressive, non brain-damage causes of the brain [4]
Drugs
Psychiatric illnesses
Poor sleep
Chronic pain
Non-neurodegenerative, brain-damaging causes of dementia [7]
CVD [vascular dementia]
MS
Alcohol
Brain tumours
Hydrocephalus
HIV
B12 deficiency
Neurodegenerative diseases that cause dementia
Alzheimer’s disease
Dementia with Lewy bodies
CJD
Huntington’s disease
Fronto-temporal lobar degeneration spectrum
Alzheimer’s disease
- Neurobiological features
Neurodegenerative disease that causes dementia
Caused by an aggregation of mis-folded proteins.
Features:
- Neurofibrillary tangles intracellularly
- Amyloid beta accumulation extracellularly
Alzheimer’s disease affect on function
Affects the consolidation of memory [from STM to LTM]
- Inability to create new memories [anterograde]
Alcohol and memory
Chronic use of alcohol can cause Wernicke’s encephalopathy —> biochemical lesions
- B1 [thiamine] deficiency
Can progress into Korsakoff’s
- This impairs impairment of STM consolidation
Cognitive deterioration of Alzheimer’s disease
Starts of with memory impairment [inability to consolidate]
Then visuospatial and language impairment
Depression
Disorientation and hallucination
Aggression, paranoia, apathy, immobility, weight loss
Treatment of dementia
Treating underlying cause:
- B12 deficiency
- Thiamine deficiency
- HIV
- Tumour
- CVD
Alzheimer’s
- Acetylcholinesterases [neostigmine]
