L24: Dementia Flashcards
main cause of dementia
alzheimer’s disease
second commonest dementia
mixed
what is mixed dementia
Alzheimer’s and vascular
3rd commonest dementia
vascular dementia
differential diagnosis (3)
- ageing and mild cognitive impairment
- depression
- Delirium (including infection)
five As of alzheimer’s
- amnesia
- aphasia
- apraxia
- agnosia
- associated features
amnesia=
memory
aphasia=
speech
apraxia=
motor
agnosia=
recognition
what part of the brain is most affected by alzheimer’s disease
medial temporal and parieto-temporal lobes
what is often spared in alzheimers
primary sensory / motor/ visual cortex
what is widened and narrowed in the brain
widened sulci
narrowed gyri
2 general terms for the pathophysiology of alzheimers
plaques and tangles
what are plaques
abnormal processing og amyloid precursor protein leading to excessive beta amyloid
what does abnormal amyloid protein mean (3)
- calcium influx and cell death via glutamate excitotoxicity
- interference with nerve signalling
- associated inflammatory response
what are tangles
hyper-phosphorylated tau protein
what does tau protein disrupt
cerebral architecture and functioning