Dementia Diagnosis & Treatment

Question 1

what 4 things are needed during an assessment for dementia?

Answer 1

• patient history
• cognitive tests
• physical examination
• MRI

Question 2

what happens when a patient does/does not meet the criteria for dementia?

Answer 2

does - figure out what type (degenerative, vascular, AD etc)
does not - figure out what it is (delirium, learning disability etc)

Question 3

how long does it take for AD to progress?

Answer 3

typically 20 years

Question 4

what three ways can AD be minimised?

Answer 4

• lifestyle interventions
• maintaining/restoring plasticity (modifying neurotransmission)
• reducing pathology (clearing the amyloid/tau burden)

Question 5

what systems do traditional drug treatments for AD target?

Answer 5

the cholinergic and glutamatergic systems

Question 6

Panza et al. (2016) found alternative therapeutic options interfere with what to treat AD?

Answer 6

the accumulation of protein deposits

Question 7

is the drug Aducanumab providing promising results for AD treatment? early or late stage AD?

Answer 7

yes - it can slow cognitive decline by 40% by reducing presence of brain plaques, but these drugs work better in preclinical/mild AD patients

Question 8

what does Heneka et al. (2015) suggest as treatment for AD?

Answer 8

anti-inflammatory measures - protein build up signals a neuroimmunological response (inflammation)

Question 9

what did Chan et al. (2013) find was happening to dementia levels as China becomes more westernised?

Answer 9

increasing