Neruo 11.2 Dementia

Question 1

Define dementia

Answer 1

progressive decline of cognitive function (impairment of intellect, reason and personality without impairment of consciousness), usually affecting the cortex as a whole (though can sometimes be patchy)

Question 2

What are the most common causes of dementia?

Answer 2

AD, dementia with lewy bodies, vascular dementia

Question 3

Describe the symptoms of AD

Answer 3

progressive memory loss, aphasia, apraxia, agnosia, depression, behavioural changes

Question 4

What is pathophysiology of AD?

Answer 4

Neurofibrillary tangles - Twisted filaments of tau protein. Tau stabilises microtubules in cell. Senile plaques - amyloid deposition of aBeta protein.

Question 5

Symptoms of lewy body dementia?

Answer 5

Fluctuating cognition. More rapid symptoms than AD.

Question 6

What causes vascular dementia

Answer 6

multiple infarcs in cortex.

Question 7

What is frontotemporal dementia?

Answer 7

Atrophy of frontal and temporal lobes

Question 8

What are subcortical encephalopathies

Answer 8

Disorders that affect subcortical structures e.g. huntingtons disease and parkinsons

Question 9

What are primary progressive aphasia?

Answer 9

language based dementia

Question 10

How is dementia diagnosed? What is seen on MRI in AD?

Answer 10

History and cognitive testing. MRI - bilateral atrophy of hippocampus in AD.