Peripheral neuropathy (PN) in the elderly has many etiologies and is a cause of great disability due to the motor and sensory deficits and their effects on the patient's activities of daily living. A brief review of the anatomy and clinical characteristics of PN is presented. A careful history, examination, and set of diagnostic studies will disclose the diagnosis in the majority of patients. Various treatments may be directed at the underlying cause of PN. Pain control should also be considered.

Aged↗

PubMed1990

Autonomic neuropathy: clinical presentation and differential diagnosis.

Autonomic neuropathy (AN) may occur in the elderly in connection with other common illnesses afflicting this age group, such as diabetes or Parkinson's disease, or even as the primary illness. Symptoms of AN are numerous, but syncope, with its risk for fractures and head trauma, is the most serious. The clinical presentation and differential diagnosis of AN are discussed, as are a group of diseases associated with AN. Treatment guidelines are outlined.

Aged↗

PubMed1986

A quality and cost control model for managing nursing utilization.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Cost Control↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Non-Alzheimer fronto-temporal degenerative dementia. A neurobehavioral and pathologic study.

In contrast to Alzheimer's disease (AD), which predominantly affects the limbic system and association neocortex, degenerative dementias have been identified that show greatest damage in frontal and temporal neocortex. This "lobar atrophy" was first described by Arnold Pick over 100 years ago. We present four autopsy-documented, non-AD cases of fronto-temporal degeneration (FTD), each with neurobehavioral assessment. Three of the patients presented with personality change and the fourth with non-fluent aphasia; memory was initially preserved in all, and only later did dementia become evident. At autopsy, the hippocampi were relatively spared in all cases. One patient had classic Pick-body temporal lobe Pick's disease (PD), 2 had frontal lobe-predominant atrophy with severe degeneration of caudate and substantia nigra (so-called "generalized Pick's"), and the fourth had temporal lobe degeneration without Pick bodies or cells. We propose that subgroups of FTD be categorized both by microscopic features and gross patterns of atrophy, and that subgroups of FTD be kept separate for neurochemical and genetic studies. Neurobehavioral and neuropsychological evaluation early in the course of unusual degenerative dementia can aid in distinguishing FTD cases from AD patients for clinical and drug studies.

Adult↗