Dates: April 18-22, 2026
Location: McCormick Place, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Organizer: American Academy of Neurology
Track: Cognitive Disorders/Dementia
The dementia track at AAN 2026 covers Alzheimer's disease and all other causes of dementia, including vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal dementia, and rare causes. This comprehensive track addresses the full spectrum of cognitive disorders, from diagnosis to management and research.
As populations age worldwide, the burden of dementia continues to grow, making this track particularly relevant for neurologists, geriatricians, psychiatrists, and primary care providers. AAN 2026 will highlight advances in biomarkers, therapeutics, and care models for all dementia types[@niaaa].
- Typical and atypical presentations
- Biomarker confirmation
- Differential from other dementias
- Subcortical vs. cortical vascular cognitive impairment
- Stroke-related cognitive decline
- Mixed dementia (AD + vascular)
¶ Lewy Body Dementia
- Core and supportive features
- DLB vs. Parkinson's disease dementia
- Fluctuating cognition and parkinsonism
- Behavioral variant FTD
- Language variants: Semantic, non-fluent
- FTLD spectrum disorders
- Normal pressure hydrocephalus
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
- Traumatic brain injury-related dementia
- HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder
- Cholinesterase inhibitors across dementia types
- Memantine and combination therapy
- Symptom-specific medications
- Emerging disease-modifying agents
- Cognitive stimulation therapy
- Reality orientation and validation therapy
- Environmental modifications
- Assistive technology
- Education and training programs
- Support groups and resources
- Caregiver burnout prevention
- Advance care planning
- Advanced dementia management
- Symptom control
- End-of-life decision making
- Hospice considerations
- Fluid biomarkers for non-AD dementias
- Imaging markers of specific pathologies
- Genetic testing and counseling
- Disease-modifying therapies
- Symptomatic treatments
- Prevention studies
- Diagnostic challenges in patients under 65
- Common genetic causes: APP, PSEN1, PSEN2, MAPT, GRN, C9orf72
- Work and family considerations
- Support services for younger patients
- Autoimmune encephalitis
- Paraneoplastic syndromes
- Infectious causes: CJD, HSV encephalitis, HIV
- Considerations for urgent evaluation
- Depression masquerading as dementia (pseudodementia)
- Psychosis in Alzheimer's and Lewy body dementia
- Behavioral variants of frontotemporal dementia
- Treatment resistance considerations
Modern biomarker studies reveal that most dementia cases involve multiple pathologies:
- AD + vascular: Combined amyloid, tau, and cerebrovascular disease
- AD + LBD: Alzheimer co-pathology in most DLB and PDD cases
- AD + TDP-43: Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (LATE)
- Triple pathology: AD + Lewy bodies + vascular changes
Understanding mixed pathology has major implications for diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment selection.
Major advances in fluid and imaging biomarkers for non-Alzheimer's dementias:
- Lewy body disease: Alpha-synuclein seed amplification assays (SAA), FP-CIT SPECT, MIBG imaging
- Frontotemporal dementia: Plasma progranulin for GRN mutations, fluid NfL for tracking
- Vascular dementia: White matter hyperintensity burden, perivascular spaces, perfusion imaging
- Prion disease: 14-3-3, total tau, RT-QuIC in CSF
- TDP-43: Targets for FTD with motor neuron disease
- Nucleic acid-targeting: Antisense oligonucleotides for MAPT, GRN mutations
- Vascular targets: Pericyte function, blood-brain barrier repair
- Metabolic approaches: GLP-1 agonists showing benefits across dementia types
- Update on dementia diagnostic criteria
- Biomarkers for differential diagnosis
- Management of behavioral symptoms
- Caregiver support and resources
- Vascular cognitive impairment
- Lewy body disease: Update
- Frontotemporal dementia: New frontiers
- Young-onset dementia
- Neuropsychological assessment
- Dementia care modeling
- Advance directive discussions