Journal

The Japanese journal of neuropsychology

[Vol.27 No.3 contents]
Japanese/English

Full Text of this Article
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ArticleTitle Neuropsychological examination in the clinical assessment of dementia
Language J
AuthorList Hajime Takechi
Affiliation Department of Geriatric Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University
Publication Japanese Journal of Neuropsychology: 27 (3), 213-219, 2011
Received
Accepted
Abstract Dementia is a neurological disease which cause functional decline of people in their daily life due to disturbance of cognitive function, such as memory, and executive function. Since rapid change of the population toward aging, the number of people with dementia increase. Most of dementia patients belong to Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementia. For the diagnosis of dementia, assessment of cognitive function is important and crucial. Even after the development of brain imaging techniques, such as CT, MRI and SPECT, the role of neuropsychological test is still large. Recent increase of patients, especially, early stage patients requires precise assessment with neuropsychological tests, although the importance of them is not properly recognized in Japan. Here, I discuss the meaning and usefulness of neuropsychological tests in the clinical assessment and treatment of dementia.
Keywords dementia, neuropsychological examination, Alzheimer's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, cognitive impairment

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