Diagnosis of organic brain syndrome: an emergency department dilemma.
Delirium and dementia frequently pose a diagnostic dilemma for clinicians in the emergency department. The overlap of symptoms between organic brain syndrome and functional psychiatric illness, coupled with a dramatic presentation, often leads to a premature psychiatric diagnosis. In this paper, the authors discuss those symptoms of organic brain syndrome that most frequently generate diagnostic confusion in the emergency department and result in a misdiagnosis of functional illness.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003693:Delirium / Q000175:diagnosis; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004630:Emergencies; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D019965:Neurocognitive Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*