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Dementia & Amnestic Disorders MCQs
Neurology · MBBS / Medicine · 28 practice questions
- Clinical Features Suggestive of Specific Dementia Causes
- Motor Signs in Dementia Differential Diagnosis
- Dementia vs Confusional State (Approach to Diagnosis)
- Approach to Diagnosis - Confusional State vs Dementia
- Value of Diagnosing Untreatable Causes
- Differential Diagnosis of Dementia by Age of Onset
- Rapidly Progressive Dementia
- Value of Identifying Cause of Dementia
1. A 70-year-old woman is referred for evaluation of possible dementia. After thorough workup, no neurodegenerative disease is found, and the clinical picture is better explained by a mood disorder. Approximately what proportion of patients referred for possible dementia evaluation, according to the text, turn out to have such alternative diagnoses (pseudodementias)?
- AApproximately 50%
- BApproximately 5%
- CApproximately 15%
- DApproximately 25%
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C. Approximately 15% The text states approximately 15% of patients referred for evaluation of possible dementia instead have other disorders (pseudodementias), such as depression.
2. A family asks why extensive testing is being pursued to identify a treatable cause in their elderly relative's dementia workup, given that most dementias are not reversible. Which statement best reflects the text's rationale?
- ATesting is primarily done to satisfy legal requirements, not clinical benefit
- BOnly 10% of dementias are reversible, but detecting them is worthwhile because quality and duration of life can be improved
- CReversible dementias cannot be distinguished from irreversible ones without autopsy
- DReversible causes account for the majority of dementia cases in the elderly
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B. Only 10% of dementias are reversible, but detecting them is worthwhile because quality and duration of life can be improved The text states that at present only approximately 10% of dementias are reversible, but the extent to which quality and duration of life can be improved justifies the effort and expense to detect them.
3. A clinician is evaluating a patient with new cognitive complaints. The clinician first determines that the patient's wakefulness and arousal are intact but that content of consciousness is impaired. What is the appropriate next diagnostic step according to the approach outlined in the text?
- ATreat empirically for depression before further testing
- BOrder an EEG to rule out coma
- CDetermine whether the deficit is a global cognitive disorder (dementia) or a more circumscribed deficit such as amnesia or aphasia
- DImmediately assume a diagnosis of Alzheimer disease
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C. Determine whether the deficit is a global cognitive disorder (dementia) or a more circumscribed deficit such as amnesia or aphasia The text states that if content (but not level) of consciousness is impaired, a global cognitive disorder (dementia) must next be distinguished from a more circumscribed deficit such as amnesia or aphasia.
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