Purpose of review: This article presents a practical approach to the evaluation of patients with rapidly progressive dementia.
Recent findings: The approach presented in this article builds upon the standard dementia evaluation, leveraging widely available tests and emergent specific markers of disease to narrow the differential diagnosis and determine the cause(s) of rapid progressive decline. The discovery of treatment-responsive causes of rapidly progressive dementia underscores the need to determine the cause early in the symptomatic course when treatments are most likely to halt or reverse cognitive decline.
Summary: A pragmatic and organized approach to patients with rapidly progressive dementia is essential to mitigate diagnostic and therapeutic challenges and optimize patient outcomes.
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