ABSTRACT
The neuropsychological assessment of dementia occurs within a wider context of the clinical evaluation of patients in terms of neurological, psychiatric and physical disability. In Creutzfeldt-Jakob's disease, a characteristic sequence of electroencephalographs abnormalities is seen in the presence of little or no change on a Computerised Axial Tomography Scan. Psychological tests are used in the differential diagnosis of dementia by examining the profile of test performance in dementia. The most common group of dementias are the degenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Pick's disease, dementia associated with Parkinson's disease, and Huntingdon's disease. A substantial number of brief cognitive tests have been developed that provide an approximate measure of severity and cut-off points for identifying possible cases of dementia. Many of the tests cross the boundaries of different types of memory and do not facilitate a descriptive account of memory impairment.
