Most frequent dementias in family practice and how to distinguish them

Sa？etak Although family physicians know their patients, their health problems and their associated diseases, it is often hard to recognize the type of dementia. Alzheimer's disease (AD), as the most common type of dementia, and vascular dementia as the second, are the most frequent types of dementia in family physicians' assessment among cognitive disorders. The accessible tool to family physicians is the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). The Hachinski score is a helpful, simple and quick tool to distinguish AD from vascular dementia. Although brain cell degeneration is an irreversible process and no treatment is available, early detection and differentiation of dementia is very important in order to preserve cognitive abilities to some degree with general measures and symptomatic treatment