中文摘要：

老年期痴呆是人类在衰老过程中的一种常见病、多发病、难治性疾病，是一组大脑智能损害的慢性进展的衰退性疾病。老年期痴呆包括血管性痴呆和老年性痴呆。《内经》中无老年期痴呆病名，相关描述散见于“善忘”“健忘”“癫狂”等疾病中。现根据《内经》中相关条文论述，并结合历代中医文献以及现代研究，总结老年期痴呆病机有阴阳失调、气血失和、五脏功能失衡。在老年期痴呆的临床治疗中，应该整体辨证，调整阴阳，气血，恢复五脏和调，才能收效。

英文摘要：

Elderly dementia is a common, frequently -occurring and intractable disease in aging of human being. It is the chronic, progressive and degenerative disease, damaging the brain intelligence. Elderly dementia includes vascular dementia and senile dementia. There is no specific term of this disease in Internal Classic. The relevant descriptions were recorded in the diseases such as poor memory, manic - depressive dis- ease. According to the relevant clauses in Internal Classic and in association with Chinese medicine literatures in different dynasties as well as modern study, the pathogenesis of elderly dementia is summarized as disturb- ance of yin and yang, disharmony of qi and blood and imbalance of five - zang functions. In the clinical treat- ment of elderly dementia, in order to obtain the efficacy,it is required to focus on the holistic syndrome differentiation, regulation of yin and yang, qi and blood, as well as recovery of five -zang harmonization.