Dementia. Delirium Flashcards
Delirium
Acute Fluctuating level of consciousness Impaired attention Incoherent speech Toxic and metabolic causes usually found Typically reversible
Dementia
Chronic Normal level of consciousness Normal attention Aphasia Toxic/ metabolic causes usually not found Typically irreversible
Treatment of Delirium, Provision of adequate sleep
- Avoid daytime sedation and naps
2. Trazodone, zolpidem QHS
Treatment of Delirium, drugs
- Atypical antipsychotics PRN
2. Benzodiazepines PRN
The Syndrome of Dementia
*memory, language, visuospatial skills, complex cognition, and emotion or personality - that is of sufficient severity to interfere with usual social and occupational function. *Need 3+
Dementia Etiology- Reversible
Drugs and toxins – prescription, etoh
Mass lesions
Systemic illness – e.g. hypothyroidism, vitamin B12 deficiency
Dementia Etiology- Irreversible
Alzheimer’s Disease Frontotemporal lobar degeneration Vascular dementia Lewy Body Dementia Parkinson’s Disease Huntington’s Disease Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease HIV-associated dementia Moderate/ severe TBI
Neuroanatomic
Classification of Dementia
cortical – e.g. Alzheimer’s Disease
subcortical – e.g. Parkinson’s Disease
white matter – e.g. Binswanger’s Disease
mixed – e.g. multi-infarct dementia
Loss of dopaminergic cells in the midbrain substantia nigra (SN)
80% develop dementia within 15 years of onset
Standard PD drugs can modestly help cognition
A cholinergic deficit is also present, and there is evidence for use of cholinesterase inhibitors
Parkinson’s Disease
An autosomal dom disease w/ dementia and chorea
Onset usually in mid-life
Early personality changes – disinhibition, poor judgment, antisocial behavior
Diagnosis is accurate with the CAG triplet repeat test
Caudate atrophy may not be present in the early years of the disease
Huntington’s Disease (HD)
potentially reversible dementia, complete reversibility uncommon
Classic triad: dementia, gait disorder, and urinary incontinence
High-volume lumbar “tap test” (30-50 cc) improves gait and sometimes cognition
Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH)
A rapidly progressive dementia, acute confusion, hallucinations, and delusions
ends in death within one year
Etiology is a novel agent known as a prion (proteinaceous infectious agent)
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD)
mad cow disease -consumption of infected beef in 1980s
Earlier age of onset, longer duration, and more psychiatric features early in the course
chronic wasting disease (CWD) of deer and elk is not transmissible to humans
Variant CJD
Treatment of Dementia – General Principles
reversable
Reversible causes - Treatment depends on etiology, and the earlier the treatment, the greater the chance for full recovery
Treatment of Dementia – General Principles
non reversable
Irreversible causes - Regular medical care is essential: informed counseling, avoidance of drugs that can worsen dementia, and careful use of medications for specific symptoms
Treatment of Dementia – Cognitive Impairment
AD is the only degenerative dementia with FDA-approved drug treatment
Cholinesterase inhibitors
Early memory and visuospatial problems- get lost (can’t find novel or familiar places)
Dressing apraxia-inability to do a skilled movement (putting on a sweater)
Most cases are sporadic
neuritic (amyloid) plaques and neurofibrillary tangles
Alzheimer’s disease
Young onset (under 40) cases typically associated with \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Alzheimer’s disease
presenilin 1 mutation
Early behavioral, executive and/or language
Diminished judgement, appropriate movement and memory
Neurofibrillary tangles (tau protein deposition)
Ubiquitin inclusions
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD)
Parkinson’s disease
Tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia
“Pill rolling” tremor, stiff, slow