Clinical and neuropathological findings in Lewy body dementias

We compared clinical features in three groups of pathologically defined patients evaluated fur dementia during life : (i) Alzheimer's disease (AD); (ii) Lewy body variant of Alzheimers Disease (LBV), with Lewy bodies (LB) and AD; (iii) diffuse Lewy body disease (DLBD), with LB alone. All three groups bad similar initial cognitive symptoms. LBV and DLBD had Parkinsonian signs, though resting tremor was extremely rare. Delusions and hallucinations were relatively more frequent in LBV and DLBD than in AD. On neuropsychological testing, the LBV group had relatively greater impairment than AD on visuospatial and executive tests. LB there Fore contribute to the clinical picture of dementia. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.