dementia Flashcards
(23 cards)
what causes Alzheimer’s disease
- accumulation of amyloid plaques and intraneuronal neurofibrillary tangles
what is the effect of alzheimers
- short term memory impairment with difficulty in learning new information
- later effects on remote memories
- aphasia, apraxia, agnosia, executive deficits
what causes vascular dementia
cumulative effect of multiple cerebral infarctions with an accumulating loos of neurones or axons
what are the effects/ signs of vascular dementia
- sudden onset with a stepwise progression
- gradual decline with increasing cerebrovascular burden
what is the cause of dementia with Lewy bodies
- presence of lewy bodies in the cortical and subcortical regions
- lewu bodies are intracellular structures composed primarily of alpha-synuclein
- causes widespread neuronal degeneration AND neuronal loss in the substantia nigra
what causes Alzheimer’s
- the accumulation of amlyoid plaques and intraneuronal neurofibrillary tangles
what are the effects of alzheimers disease
- short term memory impairment
- difficulty in learning new information
- remote memories affected later on
- aphasia, apraxia, agnosia, executive deficits
what causes vascular dementia
the cumulative effect of multiple cerebral infarctions with an accumulating loss of neurones or axons
what are the effects of vascular dementia
- sudden onset with a stepwise progression
- gradual decline with increasing cerebrovascular burden
what causes dementia with Lewy bodies
- presence of lewy bodies (intracellular structures of alpha-synulein) in the cortical and subcortical regions
- widespread neuronal degeneration AND neuronal loss in the substantia nigra
what is the effect of dementia with lewy bodies
- not as prominent memory difficulties in the early stages when compared to Alzheimer’s
- marked fluctuations in alertness and cognition, hallucinations, motor symptoms of parkinsonism
what parts of the brain are involved in fronto-temporal dementia
- frontal
- anterior parietal
- temporal
what causes fronto-temproal dementia
the accumulation of proteins in the brain causing neuronal death - selective degeneration of the frontal and temproal lobes
what is the effect of fronto-temporal dementia
not as prominent memory loss at the early stages
what is the behavioural variant of FTD
- marked changes in personality
- loss of inhibition
- emotional blunting
- decline in social conduct
what is the language variant of FTD
- primary progressive aphasia
- encompasses clinical syndromes of primary non-fluent aphasia
what medications are used for dementia
- acetylcholinesterase inhibitors
- memantine
why are acetylcholinesterase inhibitors used in dementia
- prevent the breakdown of acetylcholinesterase from breaking down acetylcholine in the brain
- increase the concentration increases the duration of acetylcholine in the synapse which helps to improve communication between nerves in the brain
what is memantine used in dementai
- blocks the effect of excessive amounts of glutamate in the brain
- causes: headaches, dizziness, constipation
- used for: Alzheimer’s, dementia with lewy bodies, combined Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia
what causes depression with dementia
- challenges in living with dementia
- damages to the part of the brain linked to emotions and behaviours
- meds side effects
- bereavement
- had it in the past (pre-disposed)
what is used as treatment for depression with dementia
- mild = self-help or support groups
- severe or persistent = antidepressants
what causes anxiety with depression
- worrying about difficult issues
- damage to parts of the brain involved in emotion
- meds side effects
- stopping meds too quickly
- hx of traumatic or upsetting events
- worrying about coping with the condition and future stages
