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ARTICLE |

The Presenile Dementias FREE

Charles M. Poser, MD
[+] Author Affiliations

Reprint requests to Department of Neurology, Medical Center Hospital of Vermont, DeGoesbriand Unit, Burlington, VT 05401 (Dr. Poser).

Edited by S. Vaisrub, MD, Senior Editor.


JAMA. 1975;233(1):81-84. doi:10.1001/jama.1975.03260010083034
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A PROGRESSION of peculiarities that may be as harmless as the faux pas of the absent-minded professor or as tragic as the deterioration of King Lear forms the spectrum of what in its fully developed form is called dementia. Simply defined, it is intellectual disintegration.

The manifestations of dementia vary considerably, reflecting the mental, social, and emotional resources of a person before his illness began. Unfortunately, it often strikes the individual at the height of his productivity. The first symptom of the condition may be a decrease in expected level of functioning, and thus the disease may be very closely tied to the patient's work or professional status. It is important to note that the symptoms that usher in the process of dementia differ little from those that occur in normal people who are exhausted, anxious, or under severe pressure. Thus, a frequent early complaint is that the patient is

REFERENCES

Bass HN, Hess HH, Pope A:  Altered cell membranes in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease . Arch Neurol 31:174-182, 1974;.
Poser CM, Huntley CJ, Poland JD:  Para-encephalitic parkinsonism . Acta Neurol Scand 45:199-215, 1969;.
Steele JC, Richardson JC, Olszewski J:  Progressive supranuclear palsy . Arch Neurol 10:333-359, 1964;.
Albert ML, Feldman RG, Willis AL:  The subcortical dementia of progressive supranuclear palsy . J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 37:121-130, 1974;.
Nauta WJH:  The problem of the frontal lobe: A reinterpretation . J Psychiatr Res 8:167-187, 1971;.
Hakim S, Adams RD:  The special problem of symptomatic hydrocephalus with normal CSF pressure . J Neurol Sci 2:307-327, 1965;.
Shenkin HA, Greenberg J, Bouzarth WF, et al:  Ventricular shunting for relief of senile symptoms . JAMA 225:1486-1489, 1973;.
Geschwind N:  The mechanism of normal pressure hydrocephalus . J Neurol Sci 7:481-493, 1968;.
Fishman RA, Greer M:  Experimental obstructive hydrocephalus . Arch Neurol 8:156-161, 1963;.

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Bass HN, Hess HH, Pope A:  Altered cell membranes in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease . Arch Neurol 31:174-182, 1974;.
Poser CM, Huntley CJ, Poland JD:  Para-encephalitic parkinsonism . Acta Neurol Scand 45:199-215, 1969;.
Steele JC, Richardson JC, Olszewski J:  Progressive supranuclear palsy . Arch Neurol 10:333-359, 1964;.
Albert ML, Feldman RG, Willis AL:  The subcortical dementia of progressive supranuclear palsy . J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 37:121-130, 1974;.
Nauta WJH:  The problem of the frontal lobe: A reinterpretation . J Psychiatr Res 8:167-187, 1971;.
Hakim S, Adams RD:  The special problem of symptomatic hydrocephalus with normal CSF pressure . J Neurol Sci 2:307-327, 1965;.
Shenkin HA, Greenberg J, Bouzarth WF, et al:  Ventricular shunting for relief of senile symptoms . JAMA 225:1486-1489, 1973;.
Geschwind N:  The mechanism of normal pressure hydrocephalus . J Neurol Sci 7:481-493, 1968;.
Fishman RA, Greer M:  Experimental obstructive hydrocephalus . Arch Neurol 8:156-161, 1963;.
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