David Shenk Answers Your Questions About Alzheimer's

Shenk: Very important question. "Dementia" and "senile dementia" are generic terms that describe a set of symptoms - memory loss, confusion, aphasia, and so on. Every case of dementia is caused by one or another disease. Alzheimer's is one of those diseases, and is by far the most common cause of dementia. There are other diseases that cause dementia - multi-infarct dementia, fronto-temporal dementia, and others. But the important point here is that it is no longer acceptable for a doctor to leave a diagnosis at "just
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