neuropsychological assessments in early diagnosis of dementia

neuropsychological studies have demonstrated that preclinical dementia accompanies a decreasing trend in cognitive state a few years prior to clinical diagnosis. sudden decline in episodic memory and semantic knowledge have been found to have the capability to differentiate patients in preclinical state of dementia from those experiencing normal aging. in addition, decline in episodic memory is usually the earliest cognitive change that occurs prior to the development of clinical dementia syndrome. asymmetry in cognitive abilities may also occur in this preclinical phase of the disease and predict imminent dementia. this review summarizes the contributions of neuropsychological assessment in early diagnosis of dementia.