[Diagnostic guideline and treatment of dementia]

- The Dutch dementia guideline has been extended to include recommendations in the area of psychosocial interventions for patients, caregivers and professionals.- The diagnostic recommendations in the revised directive are based on a stepwise work-up with the aim of establishing the cause of the dementia. This is guided by the recent diagnostic criteria, evidence of the diagnostic value of additional investigations, and the patient's wishes.- Although there have been no major breakthroughs in the treatment of patients with Alzheimer's disease in recent years, the revised guideline also contains important new recommendations in this area. For example, it includes recommendations on administration routes (first-choice use of patches or preparations with slow release of cholinesterase inhibitors), the use of combination therapy (not prescribing memantine in combination with cholinesterase inhibitors) and regular monitoring of the effectiveness of antipsychotics and cholinesterase inhibitors.- The guideline (in Dutch) can be found at www.richtlijnendatabase.nl (search for 'dementie') and will be actively implemented.