lecture 23 dementia Flashcards
main types of dementia
alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, lewy body dementia, frontotemporal
what are the 5 As of alzheimers
Amnesia, aphasia, apraxia, agnosia and associated features
aphasia
problem with speech
apraxia
motor damage
affective disorder
mood
hyperoyality
people wanting to put things in their mouth
late stages of alzheimers
loss of speech, psychotic symptoms, gait disturbances, seizures and malnutrition
what is commonly atrophied in alzeimers
medial temporal lobes and the parietal-temporal lobe
what happens to the gyri and sulci in alzheimers
sulci are widened and gyri are narrowed
what happens to the ventricles in alzheimers
dilated
what type of cell does alzheimers tissue have less of
nerve cells
what is the pathology of alzheimers
plaques and tangles
what are the plaques in alzheimers made up of
abnormal clusters of protein fragments, this is amyloid precursor protein
do the plaques affect the normal physiology in alzheimers
the proteins build up between neurons and disrupt cell signalling
signals an inflammatory response
what are the tangles
abnormally twisted tau protein
what are tau proteins for
tau proteins give cells structure and are a pathway for signalling and allow metabolites between cells
what treatments are there for alzheimers
memantine
acetylecholinesterases
NMDA antagonists
what is memantine
N-methyl D aspartate receptor antagonist
what do NMDA antagonists do
reduce the amount of glutamate
who would you give NMDA antagonists
people with challenging behavioural symptoms
where is the problem in vascular dementia
vessels in the brain
describe the decline of vascular dementia
stepwise
apathy
lack of interest
what would you do for vascular dementia
lifestyle changes
aspirin, clopidogrel, warfarin
