섬망

Delirium：Concept, Evaluation and Treatment Guidelines

Delirium is a complex clinical syndrome that has had many names. That shows delirium has many different aspects and clinical courses in the view of cognitive, emotional and behavioral symptoms, and that makes the clinicians embarrassed. Delirium in elderly patients is sometimes under detected and poorly managed by the both surgeons and physicians, and tends to be related with grave prognosis. So the understanding and the full acquaintance with the delirium is one of the most important task for the geriatric psychiatrists. This review discusses the concept, evaluation and treatment guidelines. The cardinal symptom of delirium is the disturbance in consciousness accompanied with various cognitive functional disturbances. The diagnosis of delirium is composed of the identification, the severity evaluation and finding the causes of delirium. The management of delirium consists of correcting the underlying problems, providing the safe and comfortable environment and prescribing suitable medications.