Dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson's disease
Publisher DOI
PubMed ID
15109582
Abstract
Lewy bodies (LB) in the central nervous system are associated with several different clinical syndromes including Parkinson's disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Long term follow up of PD patients finds up to 78% eventually develop dementia, most of these patients exhibiting fluctuating cognition and visual hallucinations similar to DLB and with extensive cortical LB at autopsy. alpha-Synuclein positive, neuritic pathology, in the putamen of DLB and Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD), may contribute to postural-instability gait difficulty, parkinsonism, diminished levodopa responsiveness and increased neuroleptic sensitivity. Cognitive and neuropsychiatric symptoms improve with cholinesterase inhibitor treatment in both patient groups. DLB and PDD should be seen as different points on a spectrum of LB disease. Distinguishing them as separate disorders may be useful in clinical practice, but may be of limited value in terms of investigating and treating the underlying neurobiology.
Date Issued
2004-05
Publication Type
Article
Subject(s)
Subjects
Lewy body
•
dementia
•
Parkinson's disease
•
diagnosis
•
management
Language(s)
en
Author(s)
Additional Credits
Journal
Parkinsonism & related disorders
Publisher
Elsevier
ISSN
1353-8020
Access(Rights)
restricted