[Dementia-current knowledge and significance for ENT specialists].

Because of the growing number of elderly people, the incidence of dementia is increasing. This disease is a heavy burden for patients and their relatives, and has growing social and financial implications. The essential feature of dementia is an impairment in both short and long-term memory which is associated with an impairment in abstract thinking, impaired judgment, other disturbances of higher cortical functions, and/or personality change. Mild cognitive impairment represents a transitional state between the cognitive changes of normal aging and very early dementia, and is becoming increasingly recognized as a risk factor for Alzheimer's disorders. ENT specialists require knowledge on the basic problems in patients with (early) dementia and the most common diagnostic/therapeutic assessments. New therapeutic concepts such as cholinesterase inhibitors have been shown to interfere with the progression of Alzheimer's disease. In this report, the strategies in diagnostics and therapy which should be known by ENT specialists are presented.