Dementia
Although Alzheimer's disease is the most well-known cause of dementia, there can be many other causes. Some of these can be reversed by treatment, whereas others can only be slowed down by treatment.
In addition, some of these conditions are likely to occur together. For example, Alzheimer's disease often occurs in combination with vascular dementia, and patients with various forms of dementia are often depressed.
Reversible (or partly reversible) causes of dementia include:
- Drug or alcohol abuse
- Depressione
- Vascular diseases (such as strokes, or decreased blood flow to the brain)e
- Vitamin deficiencies (such as vitamin B12, or thiamine)e
- Fluid on the brain (hydrocephalus)e
- Brain tumore
- Neural syphilis
Progressive causes of dementia include:
- Alzheimer's disease
- Parkinson's disease
- Huntington's disease
- Pick's disease (also known as frontotemporal dementia)
- HIV-related dementia
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
- Lewy body dementia
The specialists at the Stanford Neurosciences Center work to provide you with the best diagnostic methods to uncover your cause of memory loss, and the best individualized treatment program to improve your quality of life and reverse your memory loss if possible.
In addition, our physicians continue to seek improved therapies through research and clinical trials.