Dementia: A Comprehensive Update

The spectrum of neurodegenerative diseases spans from asymptomatic preclinical disease to very mild cognitive impairment to frank dementia. Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common cause of dementia, is a devastating condition that affects patients and their whole family of caregivers at tremendous emotional and financial cost. Dementia: A Comprehensive Update is a three-and-a-half day, annual, review course designed by clinicians for clinicians. The course is organized by Neurology faculty members of Harvard Medical School who specialize in the care of patients with cognitive and behavioral disorders at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, McLean Hospital, and Banner Sun Health Research Institute/Banner Health. The course takes a practical and multidisciplinary approach to understanding and treating dementia and is designed for healthcare professionals involved in the diagnosis, management, and investigation of disease states causing dementia. 

This cutting-edge course is in its 28th year, includes locally, nationally and internationally renowned faculty, and attracts 300-400 participants from throughout the U.S. and the world. The organization of the course takes an integrative approach by interweaving lectures within the main program that establish the neuroanatomical and cognitive framework underlying disorders of cognition; address specific diseases (e.g. AD, vascular cognitive impairment/dementia, Parkinsonian dementias, frontotemporal dementias); and discuss the latest clinical practices and research approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of dementing illnesses (e.g. Alzheimer’s Association Clinical Practice Guidelines; practical office-based assessments; application of biomarkers, spinal fluid and amyloid/tau PET imaging in dementia; clinical treatment; prevention and experimental trials), with optional, fee-based programs. New this year will be a discussion of recently approved disease-modifying therapies for AD. Lectures and programs also provide education on special topics in dementia such as managing problem behaviors; disclosure of diagnosis and risk; chronic traumatic encephalopathy; caregiving in dementia; pain, palliation, hospice care; medicolegal issues; capacity and competence; undue influence; driving; long-term/ nursing home care; delirium and dementia; neuroethics; advanced care planning; and neuropsychology of aging.