Dementia Made Easy | High-Yield Review for Step 2 & Step 3

This video provides a high-yield overview of dementia for Step 2 and Step 3. We begin by discussing reversible causes of cognitive decline, including vitamin B12 deficiency, hypothyroidism, depression (pseudodementia), and others that should be ruled out before diagnosing irreversible dementia. We then cover the major types of dementia: Alzheimer’s disease: gradual memory loss, beta-amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles. Vascular dementia: stepwise decline with focal neurologic deficits and infarcts on imaging. Frontotemporal dementia (FTD): early personality or language changes with tau or TDP-43 pathology. Lewy body dementia: Parkinsonism, visual hallucinations, and cognitive fluctuations. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD): rapidly progressive dementia with myoclonus and characteristic EEG/CSF findings. We also briefly differentiate delirium from dementia, highlighting their key clinical features and relevance on exams. This review focuses on pathophysiology, clinical presentation, diagnostic clues, and treatment strategies — all tailored for board-style thinking.