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Updated 27 October 2007

All of the following diseases are clinically and pathologically distinct entities from Alzheimer's disease; however, all are on the differential diagnosis of dementia. For some good discussions of reversible dementias, see Weytingh et al., 1995 and Piccini et al., 1998.

Neurodegenerative diseases

• Diffuse Lewy body disease
• Parkinson's disease
• Progressive supranuclear palsy
• Frontotemporal dementia
• Pick's disease
• Olivopontocerebellar atrophy
• Progressive hemiatrophy
• Huntington's disease
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with dementia
• Guamian Parkinsonism
• Postencephalitic Parkinsonism
• Familial prion diseases
• Multiple sclerosis

Acquired & possibly reversible dementias

• Metabolic delirium (e.g. thyroid, liver, hypercalcemia, hypernatremia)
• Drug toxicity
• Nutritional deficiency (e.g. Vit. B12 deficiency, folate deficiency)
• Alcoholism
• Hydrocephalus
• Vasculitis
• Tumors
• Post-traumatic (subdural hematoma)

Acquired & probably not reversible dementias

• Vascular dementia (multi-infarct dementia, Binswanger's disease)
• Wernicke/Korsakoff's syndrome secondary to alcohol abuse

Infectious

• Nonfamilial prion disease
• AIDS dementia and AIDS-associated neurological infections (e.g. toxoplasmosis)
• Neurosyphilis
• Encephalitis
• Meningitis

Psychiatric

• Depression
• Psychosis
• Severe anxiety or compulsivity