Introduction     Diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease Karen L. Bell, M.D.     Treatment Strategies for Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment Mary Sano, Ph.D.     Treatment of Depression, Agitation, and Psychosis in Dementia Davangere P. Devanand, M.D.     Recognition of Vascular Dementia, Dementia with Lewy Bodies, and Frontotemporal Dementia Lawrence S. Honig, M.D., Ph.D.     Categorization of Dementias       Prevalence of Non-Alzheimer's Dementias       The Spectrum of Lewy-Body Disease       Frontotemporal Dementia       Other Frontotemporal Dementia       Vascular Dementia       Other Non-Alzheimer's Dementias         Neuropsychology of Mild Cognitive Impairment, Alzheimer's Disease, Dementia with Lewy Bodies, and Frontotemporal Dementia Penne Sims, Ph.D.     Neuroimaging in Dementia Scott A. Small, M.D.     Genetics of Neurodegenerative Disease: Alzheimer's Disease, Frontotemporal Dementia Jennifer Williamson-Catania, M.S.     Legal and Ethical Issues for Patients with Dementia Daniel G. Fish, Esq.     Posttest         Accreditation     Reference List     Acknowledgements		Recognition of Vascular Dementia, Dementia with Lewy Bodies, and Frontotemporal Dementia Lawrence S. Honig, M.D., Ph.D. Other Non-Alzheimer's Dementias   Hydrocephalus is frequently in the news, and there are almost as many names for hydrocephalus as there are for frontotemporal dementia. The three key clinical features of hydrocephalus are gait change, urinary symptoms, and cognitive impairment. Motor findings may not only be somatic, with some parkinsonism, shuffling, slowness, and resting tremor, but also autonomic, with motor symptoms of urinary urgency, frequency, or incontinence. It is sometimes difficult to determine whether urinary symptoms are due to a brain condition or common local genitourinary pathologies of the elderly. However, in hydrocephalus, the cerebral ventricles are enlarged, like in Alzheimer's disease, but in these cases the brain is compressed by the fluid, rather than being shrunken, with compensatory fluid accumulation.         MRI: Hydrocephalus   As in Alzheimer's disease, in hydrocephalus the ventricles are too large, but in this case the brain is compressed and the sulci are effaced. Courtesy of Dr. Lawrence Honig     Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is marked pathologically by neuronal spongiform change. It is characterized early by subtle mental changes and slowness, then a rapidly progressing dementia. There can be ataxia, cortical visual dysfunctions such as blindness or hallucinations, and there may be characteristic EEG, MRI, and CSF findings. New-variant CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease) is mostly reported in the British Isles, and because of its relation to beef consumption, may be impeding some of you enjoying eating beef in Europe.         Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease   Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is marked by spongiform change in the brain. Courtesy of Dr. Lawrence Honig     In summary, variant or atypical dementias are not uncommon, although they are not as common as Alzheimer's disease. They should be diagnosed by careful history, examination, and application of appropriate criteria. If you are frequently diagnosing your dementia patients as Pick's disease, you are diagnosing it too often (unless your office has special entry criteria). Because these diseases differ from Alzheimer's disease, the prototypical dementia, in their prognosis, disease progression, treatment, management, and genetic implications, it is important to be aware of the signs and symptoms of these diseases.     PREVIOUS | NEXT