[Pharmacotherapy of patients with dementia]

Dementing illnesses present among the most frequent and most consequential psychiatric disorders in old age. They thus constitute a particular challenge for science politics and society as a whole. Knowledge about multifactorial etiological and pathological factors is still rather limited. By way of stratified diagnostic procedures various dementia disorders can be differentiated rather reliably. Anti-dementia drugs can enhance cognitive performance and temporarily slow down the progress of the most frequently occurring dementias (Alzheimer-dementia, vascular dementia). In the treatment of behavioral symptoms in dementia newly developed psychopharmological agents are of particular relevance. They constitute an important element of a multi-modal therapeutic strategy.