[Dementia: diagnosis and therapy].

Dementia is a clinical syndrome characterized by progressive memory loss. Alzheimer's disease, a neurodegenerative disorder, accounts for the majority of clinical cases. The differential diagnosis comprises other neurodegenerative disease entities and vascular dementia, but also secondary and potentially reversible disturbances of cognitive function such as delirium or depression. Diagnostic work-up consists of standardized cognitive testing, neuroimaging, and a basic laboratory test battery. Pharmacological treatment of cognitive symptoms is accompanied by pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatment of psychiatric and behavioral symptoms, establishment of a supportive social network, as well as prevention and treatment of medical complications of dementia. This article summarizes current clinical knowledge on dementia and has a special interest in treatment and prophylaxis of complications in the field of internal medicine.