The term dementia refers to an across-the-board decline in intellectual abilities. This is an acquired disorder as compared to disorders present at birth, such as mental retardation. Dementia is strongly linked to age. becoming progressively more frequent with advancing age and is assumed to be due to brain impairment.Dementia is not a diagnosis but a broad symptom complex and can result from a variety of causes. It mayor may not be reversible depending upon the underlying cause. The symptoms of dementia consist of disorientation, poor memory, reduced intellectual functioning, reduced judgment, and alterations in emotional background. Implicit in the definition of dementia is loss of everyday skills.

Brain Disorder

When Alois Alzheimer described in 1907 the disorder that now bears his name, he did so by describing microscopic brain abnormalities. These brain changes consist of neuritic (senile) plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Neuritic plaques are believed to be degenerating treelike branchings of brain cells that may surround a central core of protein (amyloid). Neurofibrillary tangles are seen within brain cells and consist of a coarsening and thickening of the usually delicate filaments (threadlike tissues). Increasing numbers of neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles correspond to increasing severity of dementia. They may also be seen in normal older brains, but in lesser numbers.

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