Now there's a couple other terms to define.
One of which is mild cognitive impairment.
Mild cognitive impairment or MCI is a diagnosis that you can think of
to some extent, as a milder form of dementia.
It exists when a measurable clinical problem exists.
But it does not lead to problems with activities of daily living.
Now some of these patients will progress over time to develop dementia.
For instance, in some cases this is a pre-stage to dementia and it will worsen.
In other instances, mild cognitive impairment
will remain stable.
Or, if caused by a reversible etiology,
mild cognitive impairment may then return to normal.
But MCI or mild cognitive impairment is an important term to be familiar with.
Let's contrast that with normal aging.
So, what does it mean to just normally get older?
What should the cognitive changes that we expect.
Well, subtle slowing or decline in memory skills or
in cognitive speed is really common in elderly populations.
And doesn't necessarily represent a pathologic condition.
However, the difference between this condition, slowing problems with
memory and older age and MCI or dementia remains somewhat difficult to
define, even among experts and has been an important focus of research in this area
in the past few decades.
Interestingly, as you'll hear about there are new techniques
that visualize dementia or neurodegenerative
pathology during a patient's lifetime.
And as we're able to see their, these changes
during a lifetime, rather than just being able to
see them at the time of death, we've learned
that some patients who have just mild changes as
they get older, actually have underlying neurodegenerative
conditions that are in the ultra early stages.
So we continue to work to define what is normal
aging, and what are the earliest stages of these neurodegenerative conditions.
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