Neuropsychological assessment of dementia

Abstract

Dementia presents itself in many guises, from its more common forms, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), vascular dementia (VaD), and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), to the less prevalent such as frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Although clinical diagnostic criteria for dementia, such as the DSM-5, do exist, they can be difficult to implement due to the variability of clinical features at presentation of dementia. This chapter provides an insight into the common neuropsychological profiles associated with the symptoms of various forms of dementia, along with overviews of a number of cognitive assessments, from the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) to the Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination-III (ACE-III), along with a description of the way each tests for cognitive deficits.