Treatable Dementias
Because Alzheimer disease is the most common cause of intellectual decline in later life, symptoms or signs that are unusual in Alzheimer disease should particularly alert the physician to a…
Normal-Pressure Hydrocephalus
Conditions known to cause scarring of the piaarachnoid membranes, such as meningeal infection, subarachnoid hemorrhage, or bleeding from past trauma, can cause hydrocephalus by decreasing the effectiveness of CSF absorption….
Dementia with Lewy Bodies
In patients with DLB, the cognitive and functional decline of dementia is accompanied by a combination of clinical features that include visual hallucinations, parkinsonism, and fluctuating cognitive impairment. Visual hallucinations…
Vascular Dementia
Vascular dementias can be subclassified depending on whether the stroke or strokes responsible for the cognitive change are single versus multiple, and large vessel versus small vessel. As mentioned above,…
Frontotemporal Dementia
Behavioral and personality changes are prominent early features in individuals with FTD reflecting pathologic involvement of the frontal lobes, most commonly the right hemisphere. Symptoms include disinhibition, impulsivity, impaired judgment,…
Alzheimer Disease: Clinical Manifestations, Progressive Phases
1. Memory loss: The clinical hallmark of AD is memory loss. Patients may be forgetful of details of recent conversations and events. Family members frequently report that the patient asks…
Alzheimer Disease: Pathology
The gross pathology of AD appears as enlargement of the ventricles and widening of the sylvian fissure secondary to cortical atrophy. Many convexal gyri are shrunken, and the sulci between…
Alzheimer Disease: Distribution of Pathology
Amyloid plaques are abundant in the cerebral cortex of individuals with Alzheimer disease, particularly in the parietal and frontal regions. Amyloid deposition is also commonly observed in leptomeningeal arteries as…
Nondominant Hemisphere Higher Cortical Dysfunction
Constructional Dyspraxia. The right cerebral hemisphere, especially its inferior parietal lobe, is specialized for visual-spatial functions. Parietal lesions compromise the patient’s ability to draw and copy figures and diagrams, reproduce…
Dominant Hemisphere Language Dysfunction
To classify an aphasia, it is necessary to determine whether the patient can (1) speak fluently, with normal articulation and rhythm and without paraphasic, syntactic or grammatical errors or use…
