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This is the 2nd Lewy Body post. Thanks to Bob Howard for the info. >Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 22:43:00 -0600 >From: "Robert B. Howard" <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Lewy Body Disease >Sender: "Caregivers Are Really Essential (CARE)" <[log in to unmask]> >To: Multiple recipients of list CARE <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-to: "Caregivers Are Really Essential (CARE)" ><[log in to unmask]> > >---------------------- Information from the mail header >----------------------- >Sender: "Caregivers Are Really Essential (CARE)" > <[log in to unmask]> >Poster: "Robert B. Howard" <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Lewy Body Disease >------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >While I was absent from the CARE net for 6 weeks, I picked up my messages >at my son's place on one occasion and found a request for information re >Lewy Body Disease. I could not provide this from that site because I did >not have the material there. I tried to send the request back to my home >site but failed. I do not recall who it was that requested the info. At the >risk of providing all of you with material you do not want, I am sending >the following: > >I have been reviewing the literature re Diffuse Lewy Body Disease (DLBD), >about which a good bit has been written in the past few year. It is stated >that Lewy Bodies, which are distinct from the "tangles" of Alzheimer's >Disease, are the second most frequent pathological finding in patients with >dementia. There is some lack of clarity whether neurologists consider DLBD >a separate entity with some features of PD or a variant of/late development >in PD. In any event, it does seem that Lewy Bodies are associated with >dementia. This is described as often rapidly progressive, characterized by >attentional impairments, disproportionate problem solving and visiospatial >difficulties, fluctuation in cognitive function, and well-formed visual >hallucinations, along with symptoms of (or similar to those) of PD except >for lower frequency and mild degree of tremor. Essentially all of the >characteristics applied to my wife. > >The diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease can be difficult in the presence of >PD. Both are relatively common, so they can coexist. But is also true that >about 30% of PD patients get mental changes later in the course. Such was >the case with my late wife. > >There are said to be subtle differences in the dementia of PD and AD. >Fluctuations with clear periods alternating with periods of confusion have >been reported more frequently with PD, as have well organized >hallucinations, often of bugs or small people. The dementia of PD is >somewhat more likely to occur in patients who have had "central" PD, i.e., >gait and speech disturbances in contrast to severe tremors of the >extremities. > >I'm not sure how important the differentiation is from the clinical >standpoint. Patients with PD dementia apparently do not do well on Mirapex. > >One postulate that seems reasonable is that the Lewy Body pathology is >characteristic of PD when it occurs in the substantia nigra (the place >where dopamine is made.) When it "spreads" to other parts of the brain, >dementia may occur. According to this postulate Lewy Body pathology may >start in other segments of the brain, and then dementia may occur early, >with parkinsonian symptoms coming later. > >I hope that this will be of interest to some of you. > >Bob Howard > > > >Bob Howard, occasionally >known formally as >Robert B. Howard >1312 Wisconsin St. #104 >Hudson, WI, 54016 >715.386.3596 >e-mail <[log in to unmask]> >CG for 12 years for Lorraine, >who died 9/17/97 >