Dementia with Parkinson disease: Clinical diagnosis, neuropsychological aspects and treatment

Dementia with Parkinson's disease represents a controversial issue in the complex group of alpha-synucleinopathies. The author acknowledges the concept of a "continuum" between Parkinson disease's (PD), Lewy body dementia (LBD), and dementia in Parkinson's disease (PDD). However, the practicing neurologist needs to identify the phenotypic signs of each dementia. The treatment and prognosis are different in spite of the overlaps between them. The main aim of this review was to characterize the clinical diagnoses of dementia associated with Parkinson's disease (PDD). Secondarily, the review discussed some epidemiological and neuropsychological issues. Selection of articles was not systematic and reflects the author's opinion, where the main text selected was the recommendations from the Movement Disorder Society Task Force for PDD diagnosis. The Pub Med, OVID, and Proquest data bases were used for the search.