|
|
Article: Dementia with Lewy Bodies
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Aging
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
DEMENTIA WITH LEWY BODIES
Dementia with Lewy bodies is a comparatively new diagnostic entity. Formal criteria for its diagnosis have existed only since 1992. Even now, changes in neuropathological techniques for its recognition are changing the understanding of how commonly this disease occurs. Depending on the study, it may vie with fronto-temporal dementia as the next most common neurodegenerative cause of dementia after Alzheimer's disease.
By definition, patients with Lewy body dementia have progressive cognitive impairment that interferes with their social or occupational functioning. What makes the diagnosis distinctive on a clinical basis is the presence of several features that, ...