Excerpt from Dementia: Overview of Pharmacotherapy
Synonyms, Key Words, and Related Terms: neurodegenerative preventions, intellectual decline in dementia, behavioral disorders, psychosis dementia, anxiety dementia, depression dementia, sleep disturbance dementia, parkinsonism dementia, incontinence dementia, pain dementia, dysphagia dementia, driving and dementia, pharmacotherapy for dementia, pharmacotherapy for Alzheimer disease, Alzheimer's disease
Perhaps the most important challenge in treating dementia is identifying cases (albeit uncommon) of reversible dementia such as chronic drug intoxication, vitamin deficiencies (B-12 and folate), subdural hematoma(s), major depression (causing forgetfulness), normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), and hypothyroidism. The management of such causes is aimed at treating the underlying disease process.
However, most causes of dementia, including degenerative brain diseases (ie, Alzheimer disease) and multi-infarct states, are incurable. This does not mean that symptoms cannot be treated. The pharmacotherapy of dementia is tailored to the specific problems confronted, although these are influenced by the underlying diagnosis.
Six clinical categories associated with dementia are amenable to pharmacotherapeutic intervention, as follows:
- Prevention of neurodegeneration
- Intellectual decline
- Behavioral disorders
- Sleep disorders
- Common medical complications
- Abrupt worsening of dementia
These categories are applicable to almost all cases of irreversible dementia, although some are more frequently problematic depending on the specific disease involved. Nonetheless, this basic framework can be applied, with some fine-tuning, to most patients with dementia.
|
 |
|
