There are 69 different forms of dementia or memory loss. Thirty-one of these are reversible. If a primary care physician has not been able to pinpoint the cause of dementia, the best course of action is to request an exam by a neuro-psychiatrist.
Degenerative Diseases:
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Lewy Body disease
- Pick’s disease
- Huntington’s disease
Degenerative Diseases:
- Progressive supranuclear palsy
- Parkinson’s disease (not all cases)
- Cerebellar degenerations
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) (not all cases)
- Parkinson-ALS-dementia complex of Guam and other island areas
Rare genetic and metabolic diseases:
- Hallervorden-Spatz, Kufs’
- Wilson’s
- late-onset metachromatic leukodystrophy
- adrenoleukodystrophy
Vascular dementia:
- Multi-infarct dementia
- Cortical micro-infarcts
- Lacunar dementia (large infarcts)
- Binswanger disease
- Cerebral embolic disease (flat, air, thrombus fragments)
Anoxic dementia:
- Cardiac arrest
- Cardiac failure (severe)
- Carbon monoxide
Toxic dementia:
- Alcoholic dementia
- Metallic dementia (e.g., lead, mercury, arsenic, manganese)
- Organic poisons (e.g., solvents, some insecticides)
- Space Occupying Causes
- Normal pressure hydrocephalus (communicating hydrocephalus of adults)
Space-occupying lesions:
- Chronic or acute subdural hemtoma
- Primary brain tumor
- Metastatic tumor (carcinoma, leukemia, lymphoma, sarcoma)
Traumatic dementia:
- Dementia pugilistica (boxer’s dementia)
- Head injuries (open or closed)
Infectious dementias:
- Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)
- AIDS dementia
- Opportunistic infections
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (subacute spongiform encephalopathy)
- Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy
- Post-encephalitic dementia
- Behcet’s syndrome
- Herpes encephalitis
- Fungal meningitis or encephalitis
- Bacterial meningitis or encephalitis
- Parasitic encephalitis
- Brain abscess
- Neurosyphilis (general paresis)
