BIOC33H3 Lecture Notes - Fecal Incontinence, Suicidal Ideation, Neurofibrillary Tangle
25 Mar 2013
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Document Summary
Dementia is a syndrome characterized by dysfunction or loss of memory, orientation, attention, language, judgment, and reasoning. Personality changes and behavioral problems such as agitation, delusions, and hallucinations may result. The two most common causes of dementia are neurodegenerative conditions (e. g. , alzheimer"s disease) and vascular disorders. Vascular dementia, also called multiinfarct dementia, is the loss of cognitive function resulting from ischemic, ischemic-hypoxic, or hemorrhagic brain lesions caused by cardiovascular disease. Depending on the cause of the dementia, the onset of symptoms may be insidious and gradual or more abrupt. Often dementia associated with neurologic degeneration is gradual and progressive over time. Regardless of the cause of dementia, the initial symptoms are related to changes in cognitive functioning. Patients may have complaints of memory loss, mild disorientation, and/or trouble with words and numbers. An important first step in the diagnosis of dementia is a thorough medical, neurologic, and psychologic history.
