If you have noticed disturbances in your memory or in one of your relatives that affect daily activities, you can contact the Memory Disorders Clinic of St. Luke's Hospital which is an Outpatient Clinic of the Neurological Department of the Hospital.

To whom the Clinic of Memory Disorders and Dementia of St. Luke's Hospital is addressed.

The Clinic and its services are addressed to those who:

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• forget names and faces of people and cannot remember them even belatedly.
• are looking to find the right words when they speak or when they write.
• often forget recent conversations or events.
• often find it difficult to orientate themselves in time or place.
• find it difficult to orientate themselves even in areas they know well.
• find it difficult to find their small miscellaneous items.
• have difficulty in planning daily activities and solving problems (e.g. cooking, driving, managing finances).
• generally, forget much more than in the past.

Services offered

The specialised, multidisciplinary team of the Clinic of Memory Disorders of St. Luke's Hospital, after a thorough examination of clinical, laboratory and neuropsychological evaluation and always guided by the human and individualized approach, provides the following services:

• Neurological examination. Taking a medical history and clinical examination.
• Neuropsychological evaluation. Tests of memory, functional and execution skills.
• Laboratory and imaging examination with Brain CT or MRI.
• Exclusion or diagnosis of diseases that could be responsible for memory disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, depression, differential diagnosis of dementia.
• Αssessment of needs, medical/pharmaceutical intervention and inclusion in individualized Cognitive Empowerment programs, such as computer use, physiotherapy, speech therapy.
• Information, education and psychological support of patients and their families.
• Ways to treat Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms.

What is dementia?

Dementia is a general term that describes a range of symptoms, which are associated with disorders of memory and/or other higher cognitive functions, which are severe enough to limit the functional abilities of the individual.

Most common types of dementia

The most common type of dementia is Alzheimer's disease (60-80%), followed by vascular dementia, which can occur in patients with arteriosclerosis disease of the vessels of the brain. There are of course several diseases that can occur with symptoms of dementia, including some reversible forms, the treatment of which can reverse cognitive deterioration, such as thyroid disease and lack of some vitamins.

Dementia versus normal aging

Dementia is often mistakenly described as "old age" or "senile dementia", terms that reflect the widely accepted but mistaken impression that the normal aging of the person may be responsible for severe memory deficits.

Expected "normal" disorders of mental functions

The importance of early diagnosis and monitoring of patients by experts

It is true that once the disease occurs, it cannot be eliminated or reversed. However, its development can be significantly slowed down. Early diagnosis and treatment allow patients and caregivers to:

• Have a greater benefit than existing medication.
• To be monitored at regular intervals and examined with neuropsychological checkup for the course of their mental state, the possible change of drug therapy and the treatment of the behavioural and psychological symptoms of the disease.
• To alleviate their anxieties and concerns about unknown problems and situations.
• To participate in new therapeutic protocols of clinical studies and to assist in the development of research.
• To have the opportunity to participate in decision-making for their care, as well as for financial and moral issues.
• To have the time to have a relationship of trust with their attending physician.
• To gain time to plan future actions.

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What is mild mental disorder?

Nowadays, there is a constant increase in people who report memory disorders and other higher mental functions, such as:

• Attention
• Centralization
• Execution capacities

The concern is great, while there is a strong concern about the development and deterioration of the mental state. In recent years, research has focused on Mild Cognitive Disorder, a heterogeneous syndrome that often precedes dementia.

Characteristics of mild mental disorder

Patients with mild cognitive impairment have mental disorders that are severe enough to be perceived by the person experiencing them or by other people in their environment, but at the same time these changes are not serious enough to affect their daily functional ability.

Early therapeutic intervention and stabilization of the disease

There is strong evidence that immediate therapeutic interventions, pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical, can lead to the stabilization of the disease and the delay of the deterioration of memory, functional abilities and behaviour. This stabilization and delayed progression of the consequences of the disease can bring about a significant improvement in the quality of life of patients and their relatives.

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