Other forms of dementia can affect the patient’s memory and other areas of their health and quality of life. The main ones are described below:

VASCULAR DEMENTIA

Vascular dementia is caused by neurons being affected by damage to blood vessels that transport oxygen and nutrients. This occurs, for example, when a person has a stroke, but it can also happen progressively when small vessels of the brain are affected and leave progressively smaller amounts of damage. The blood vessels in the brain are affected by hypertension, tobacco, high cholesterol, a sedentary lifestyle, etc. This type of dementia is characterised by problems with memory, language and concentration and behavioural alterations that we might see in an Alzheimer’s disease, but signs sometimes appear such as incontinence or focal paralysis of some part of the body, or when magnetic resonance images reveal vascular impairment that leads us to believe we are looking at a specific type of dementia.

LEWY BODY DEMENTIA

This is the third most common form of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. It is characterised by a movement disorder similar to that of Parkinson’s disease, with slow and stiff movements. On a cognitive level, the presence of predominantly visual hallucinations is very characteristic, but they can also be auditory, olfactory and tactile (seeing, hearing, smelling or touching things that are not there). Patients can become disoriented and experience alterations in speech and language, in attention and in planning and decision making, with these symptoms varying greatly from one person to another. Although memory may be affected, this is not usually the main problem. One significant feature of the disease is fluctuating motor and cognitive levels, as patients walk and orient themselves better or worse depending on the day.

FRONTOTEMPORAL DEMENTIA

This form of dementia is caused when areas of the brain involved in behaviour and language are affected. In general , we can distinguish between the frontal variant, in which behavioural impairment predominates, and the temporal variant in which language impairment is predominant.

MULTIPLE SYSTEM ATROPHY

This form of dementia is characterised by impaired movement typical of Parkinson’s disease, accompanied by impaired control of sphincters, low blood pressure with fainting, impaired speech, and sometimes, but not frequently, hallucinations and cognitive impairment.

CORTICOBASAL DEMENTIA

This is also characterised by a very asymmetric Parkinson’s-like movement disorder, with abnormal movements in the limbs, and cognitive disorders, predominantly different types of apraxia.

DEMENTIA ASSOCIATED WITH PARKINSON’S DISEASE

Patients with Parkinson’s disease may develop a form of dementia associated with Parkinson’s disease that is characterised by impaired attention and ability to plan and carry out activities.