Abstract
Dementia is a clinical concept which must be defined concisely in order to separate it from other disorders of cognition. Dementia is a global disturbance of higher mental functions occurring in an alert patient (Table 15.1). Other, less global disturbances of mental function must be categorised according to their underlying causation and localisation in the brain, as, for example, the characteristic syndromes attributed to frontal, temporal and parietal lobe lesions (Chap. 3). Dementia itself may be reversible or irreversible, static or progressive, depending on its causation.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Further reading
Blessed G, Tomlinson B E, Roth M (1968) The association between quantitative measures of dementia and of senile change in the cerebral grey matter of elderly subjects. Br J Psychiatry 114: 797
Editorial (1977) Uncovering physical illness in elderly patients with dementia. Br Med J ii: 1499
Bowen D M, Smith C B, White P, Davison A N (1976) Neurotransmitting related enzymes and indices of hypoxia in senile dementia and other abiotrophies. Brain 99: 459
Hachinski V C, Lassen N A, Marshall J (1974) Multi-infarct dementia. A cause of mental deterioration in the elderly. Lancet i: 207
Mandybur T I (1975) The incidence of cerebral amyloid angiopathy in Alzheimer’s disease. Neurology 25: 120
Masters E L, Richardson E P (1978) Subacute spongiform encephalopathy (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease). The nature and progression of spongiform change. Brain 101: 333
Smith C M, Swash M (1980) Effects of cholinergic drugs on memory in Alzheimer’s disease. In: Amaducci L, Davison AN, Antuono P (eds) Ageing of the brain and dementia. Raven, New York, p 295
Spillane J A, White P, Goodhart M J et al. (1977) Selective vulnerability of neurons in organic dementia. Nature 226: 558
Tomlinson B E (1979) The ageing brain. In: Cavanagh JB, Thomas-Smith W (eds) Recent advances in neuropathology. 1. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh London New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1983 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Weller, R.O., Swash, M., McLellan, D.L., Scholtz, C.L. (1983). Dementia. In: Clinical Neuropathology. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-1335-5_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-1335-5_15
Publisher Name: Springer, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-1337-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-1335-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive