[Confusion: more than just dementia]

Dementia is a frequent cause of mental or cognitive impairment in elderly patients. Sometimes elderly patients are unjustly diagnosed as being demented. Two such cases are reported in this article. Both patients were referred to a geriatric outpatient clinic with a diagnosis of dementia. The first patient had auditory hallucinations as a feature of a presumed paraneoplastic syndrome. The other patient experienced auditory agnosia as a result of an as yet unrecognized stroke. To recognize supposed dementia a thorough anamnesis and clinical evaluation are a prerequisite and often indicative of the correct diagnosis.