Organic Psychiatry

Question 1

Define Dementia

Answer 1

1. True decline in memory & reasoning
2. Lasting more than 6months
3. Affects ADLs
4. Conscious state remains clear

Question 2

Alzheimer’s

Answer 2

Dementia
Insidious onset
No symptoms suggesting alternative cause
Radial Temporal Horn width of greater than 5.3mm on CT/MRI (midbrain atrophy)

Caused by amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles of TAU - > atrophy

Question 3

Vascular dementia

Answer 3

Dementia
With uneven intellectual impairment and abrupt changes giving a step-wise progression.
May be associated neurological defecit
Personality preserved but mood labile

Caused by infarcts

Question 4

Pick Disease

Answer 4

Early onset dementia of middle age
Mental followed by emotional impairment
personality change
FTD

Caused by Pic bodies of TAU protein

Question 5

Creuzfeldt-Jacob

Answer 5

Rapidly progressing dementia
Movement, vision and personality all involved

Prion disease= transmissible spongiform encephalopathy.

Question 6

Huntington’s disease

Answer 6

AD inherited dementia
Chorea and emotional disregulation

Caused by expansion of CAG on Huntingtin protein

Question 7

Parkinson’s dementia

Answer 7

Dementia following normal Parkinson’s progression

Caused by LEWY bodies

Question 8

Organic Amnesiac syndrome

Answer 8

1. Recent and remot memory loss
2. with preservation of immediate memory
3. reduced ability to learn knew skills
4. disorientation in time
5. intellect maintained
6. confabulation

Causes are varied- prognosis varies by cause