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Alzheimer’s disease, a neurodegenerative brain disease, is the most common cause of dementia. It currently afflicts about 4 million Americans and is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. Furthermore, Alzheimer?s disease is the leading cause of mental impairment in elderly people and accounts for a large percentage of admissions to assisted living homes, nursing homes, and other long-term care facilities. Psychotic symptoms, such as delusions and hallucinations, have been reported in a large proportion of patients with this disease. In fact, it is the presence of these psychotic symptoms can lead to early institutionalization. Alzheimer?s disease is shown through the changes in the brain. Tangles begin to develop deep in the brain, in an area called the entorhinal cortex, and plaques form in other areas. As more and more plaques and tangles form in particular brain areas, healthy neurons begin to work less efficiently. Then, they lose their ability to function and communicate with each other, and eventually they die. This damaging process spreads to a nearby structure, called the hippocampus, which is essential in forming memories. As the death of neurons increases, affected brain regions begin to shrink. By the final stage of Alzheimer?s disease, damage is widespread and brain tissue has shrunk significantly.

The progression of Alzheimer?s disease is classified into three phases: forgetfulness, confusion, and dementia. The forgetfulness phase is the first stage and is characterized by a loss of short-term memory. Patients in this phase will often have trouble remembering names of well-known people and will misplace items on a regular basis. This stage also may include behavioral changes. Additionally, a loss of spontaneity and social withdrawal often occurs as the individual begins to become aware that there is something inherently wrong. Speech problems and difficulty with comprehension may also appear. Cleary, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish an Alzheimer?s patient from normal everyday people or people with other disorders.

In the confusional stage, the cognitive deterioration is more noticeable and memory loss is much more pronounced. Individuals in this stage will often have trouble recognizing where they are or remembering the date and day of the week. Poor judgment is also a noticeable trait at this state and the individuals? personality will likely change to some degree as well.

In the final stage of dementia, there are profound losses of memory and mental abilities. Patients will often not recognize their spouse or children or be able to read with comprehension. Eventually, individuals will become bedridden as brain functions disintegrate (Ramanathan 1997).
As of yet, there are no known causes that can be concretely linked to Alzheimer?s disease. To further complicate matters, there are a number of diseases that have symptoms in common with the dementia associated with Alzheimer?s. Understanding the different types of dementia-related illnesses is important when trying to diagnose a patient with these kinds of symptoms. Doctors separate the dementia illnesses into three groups: primary undifferentiated dementia, primary differentiated dementia and secondary dementia.

Primary undifferentiated dementia diseases produce the dementia by direct effects on the brain, such as those seen in Alzheimer?s. They resemble each other quite closely and often cannot be distinguished from one another through ordinary diagnostic means. The primary differentiated dementia diseases often include losses of muscular control and thus they can be separated from the previous group. Most of these diseases are rare. The secondary dementia diseases are not due to a permanent impairment of the brain and can often be cured, so accurate diagnosis is critical. Therefore, one can see how the three types can cause diagnosis problems for people in the medical field (Heston and White 1983).

For example, Pick?s disease is so similar Alzheimer?s that distinguishing the two in living patients is almost impossible. Like Alzheimer?s patients, those with Pick?s disease show signs of neurofilament masses and disarray in the neurotubules. However, there is a syndrome that is seen more in Pick?s patients than any other patient, which can aid in the diagnosis of the illness. This is a disease of the brain center and the individual often shows signs of severe overeating, hypersexuality and euphoric disposition. Picks patients often show signs in their early fifties and nearly all die within eight years of the onset of the