A 72-year-old man is brought by his family with complaints of gradual memory decline over the past 1 year. He forgets recent conversations, misplaces objects, and has difficulty managing finances. Recently, he has shown irritability, apathy, and occasional disorientation. No history of stroke, head trauma, or significant psychiatric illness.
What can be the differential diagnosis
Alzheimer’s disease :- gradual memory loss, difficulty in complex task like finance , age being a risk factor, disorientation and apathy.
Vascular dementia:- gradual cognitive loss, irritability, loss of memory
Pseudodementia :- mimics dementia, it is related to memory loss due to emotional distress. It may cause cognitive dysfunction and irritability as well.
Possible differential diagnoses:
We can comment on it only on further detailed examination.
Alzheimer’s ( most likely)
After that we can think of vascular dementia
Frontotemporal dementia
Dementia with lewy bodies
Etc
This could likely be Alzheimer’s disease, given the progressive memory loss and recent behavior changes. Other possibilities include vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, or even depression-related cognitive decline.
A detailed clinical evaluation, neuroimaging, and cognitive testing would help narrow it down.
The DDs coming to my mind are:
