dementia paralytica

dementia paralytica.

See general paresis.

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dementia [dĕ-men´shah]

a general loss of cognitive abilities, including impairment of memory as well as one or more of the following: aphasia, apraxia, agnosia, or disturbed planning, organizing, and abstract thinking abilities. It does not include loss of intellectual functioning caused by clouding of consciousness (as in delirium), depression, or other functional mental disorder (pseudodementia). Causes include a large number of conditions, some reversible and some progressive, that result in widespread cerebral damage or dysfunction. The most common cause is Alzheimer's disease; others include cerebrovascular disease, central nervous system infection, brain trauma or tumors, vitamin deficiencies, anoxia, metabolic conditions, endocrine conditions, immune disorders, prion diseases, Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, normal-pressure hydrocephalus, Huntington's chorea, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson's disease.

dementia of the Alzheimer type official name for alzheimer's disease.

Binswanger's dementia a progressive dementia of presenile onset due to demyelination of the subcortical white matter of the brain, with sclerotic changes in the blood vessels supplying it.

boxer's dementia a syndrome more serious than boxer's traumatic encephalopathy, the result of cumulative injuries to the brain in boxers; characterized by forgetfulness, slowness in thinking, dysarthric speech, and slow, uncertain movements, especially of the legs.

epileptic dementia a progressive mental and intellectual deterioration that occurs in a small fraction of cases of epilepsy; it is thought by some to be caused by degeneration of neurons resulting from circulatory disturbances during seizures.

multi-infarct dementia vascular d.

paralytic dementia (dementia paraly´tica) general paresis.

dementia prae´cox (obs.) schizophrenia.

presenile dementia name given to dementia of the Alzheimer type when it occurs in persons younger than age 65.

senile dementia name given to dementia of the Alzheimer type when it occurs in persons aged 65 or older.

substance-induced persisting dementia that resulting from exposure to or use or abuse of a substance, such as alcohol, sedatives, anxiolytics, anticonvulsants, lead, mercury, carbon monoxide, or organophosphate insecticides, but persisting long after exposure to the substance ends, usually with permanent and worsening deficits. Individual cases are named for the specific substance involved.

vascular dementia patchy deterioration of intellectual function resulting from damage by a significant cerebrovascular disorder.