Cognition, language, and clinical pathological features of non-Alzheimer's dementias: An overview

There are many distinct forms of dementia whose pharmacological and behavioral management differ. Differential diagnosis among the dementia variants currently relies upon a weighted combination of genetic and protein biomarkers, neuroanatomical integrity, and behavior. Diagnostic specificity is complicated by a high degree of overlap in the initial presenting symptoms across dementia subtypes. For this reason, reliable markers are of considerable diagnostic value. Communication disorders have proven to be among the strongest predictors for discriminating among dementia subtypes. As such, speech-language pathologists may be poised to make an increasingly visible contribution to dementia diagnosis and its ongoing management. The value and durability of this potential contribution, however, demands an improved discipline-wide knowledge base about the unique features associated with different dementia variants. To this end we provide an overview of cognition, language, and clinical pathological features of four of the most common non-Alzheimer's dementias: frontotemporal dementia, vascular dementia, Lewy body disease dementia, and Parkinson's disease dementia. Learning outcomes: Readers will learn characteristics and distinguishing features of several non-Alzheimer's dementias, including Parkinson's disease dementia, frontotemporal dementia, vascular dementia, and Lewy body dementia. Readers will also learn to distinguish between several variants of frontotemporal dementia. Finally, readers will gain knowledge of the term primary progressive aphasia as it relates to the aforementioned dementia etiologies. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.