What Is Lewy Body Dementia
It is a neurodegenerative disease progressive that includes behavioural symptoms and memory of Alzheimer's type dementia and, in greater or lesser degree, the Parkinson's-like symptoms of the motor system, as well as presence of very vivid visual hallucinations are usually.
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| What Is Lewy Body Dementia Stages , Symptoms , Prognosis |
These parkinsonian signs are, perhaps, the most characteristic feature of dementia with Lewy bodies. In some cases, precede dementia, either subtle or notorious, and patients are diagnosed during a time of Parkinson's disease, with little or transient response to the L - Dopa. Predominant rigidity, appearing early in more than half of the cases, bradykinesia, lack of facial expressiveness, disorders of posture, March and postural reflexes and, to a lesser extent, the hypophonic and tremor. These traits can also give you in Alzheimer's disease, but are more mild and late.
The fluctuations of the cognitive performance of these patients arise from one day to another or, even, on the same day and frequent confusional pictures of unknown origin, not attributable to external factors or medical defined.
Diagnostics
Diagnostic criteria reviewed for this dementia according to the consortium of dementia with Lewy bodies (2005) are as follows:
Essential feature
-Dementia defined as progressive cognitive impairment of sufficient magnitude to interfere with normal social or occupational function.
-Alteration of prominent or persistent memory that may not necessarily occur in the early stages, but tends to be evident with the progression.
-Attention, executive function and capacity visuospatial deficits can be specially marked.
Central traits (two are sufficient to diagnose dementia with Lewy bodies likely, one for possible Lewy body dementia):
-Fluctuations in cognitive function with variations in attention and alert.
-Recurrent, typically well made and detailed visual hallucinations.
-Spontaneous Parkinsonism features.
Features suggestive (if one or more in the presence of one or more central traits, diagnosis of probable Lewy body dementia can be. In the absence of Central traits, one or more allow the diagnosis of possible Lewy body dementia. Not can be diagnosed with probable Lewy body dementia only with suggestive features):
-REM sleep behavior disorder.
-Strong sensitivity to neuroleptic.
-Reduction of the re-uptake of dopamine in the basal ganglia demonstrated by SPECT or PET transporter.
Features of support (they tend to be present, but their diagnostic specificity has not been shown):
-Falls and syncope recurrence.
-Transitional and unexplained loss of knowledge.
-Important autonomic dysfunction.
-Hallucinations in other modalities.
-Systematized delusions.
-Depression.
-Relative preservation of medial temporal structures in CT or MRI.
-Hypoperfusion in SPECT or PET perfusion with occipital and reduced activity.
-Diminished uptake in MIBG myocardial SPECT.
-Prominent activity of slow waves in EEG with temporary transitional sharp waves.
The diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies are less likely to:
-In the presence of apparent cerebral vascular disease, such as focal neurological signs or neuroimaging.
-In the presence of other systemic or neurological disease enough to justify in part or in its entirety the clinical picture.
-If Parkinsonism only appears for the first time at a stage of advanced dementia.
Temporal sequence of symptoms:
- Dementia with Lewy bodies should be diagnosed when dementia occurs before or at the same time as Parkinsonism (if it is present). Dementia that occurs in the context of a well-established Parkinson's disease must be labeled in Parkinson's disease with dementia.
- In general, the disease begins between 50 and 80 years.
- The blend of clinical features and their order of appearance in the course of the disease can vary from patient to patient, depending on where the histopathological lesions are localized predominantly.
- It is a slowly progressive disease for which, at the moment, there are no ways of prevention and cure methods, although multiple research studies that are examining new drugs that alleviate the symptoms and stop the progression of the disease are being developed.
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