[Pain and unexpressed symptoms: the other dementia].
Patients with advanced dementia are biologically, socially and personally highly vulnerable. The care of these patients is a challenge in terms of both the quantity of care required and qualitative aspects (the need for specific and adapted approaches). The advanced phases of dementia are characterized by severe speech impairment, loss of mobility, and feeding and nutritional alterations (in patients with severe cognitive and functional impairment). Problems of recognition and verbal expression of sensations hampers the diagnostic and therapeutic approach. This article briefly reviews the clinical characteristics of the symptoms and syndromes prevalent in these patients (pain, neuropsychiatric symptoms, delirium, epilepsy) and emphasizes the general principles for prevention and therapeutic approaches.
Marín Carmona
José Manuel
JM
Médico Especialista en Geriatría, Programa Municipal de Memoria y Demencias, Ayuntamiento de Málaga, Málaga, Spain. jmmarinc1@wannadoo.es
D000368:Aged; D003704:Dementia / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology*