A not rare disease that has different characteristics from Alzheimer’s, with which it is often confused. The sufferer has “fluctuating” memory disorders and visions, in a second phase even tremors
The husband of Monica VittiRoberto Russo, told Walter Veltroni about the Courier
the years spent with the actress and living with her illness, the “Lewy body dementia», A form of dementia often confused with Alzheimer’s, but which has very different characteristics. “It is not a rare disease – he clarifies Sandro Iannaccone, head of the Cognitive-Motor Neurological Disorders Rehabilitation Unit of the IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital in Milan -, is the third cause of dementia: after Alzheimer’s and the vascular form, there is Lewy disease. If we take into account that there are 1 million patients with dementia in Italy, and of these about 500,000 are Alzheimer’s, we are talking about a disease that affects more than 100,000 people ”.
What are the characteristics of Lewy body dementia?
“It is often not diagnosed or confused with Alzheimer’s (with which it has very different characteristics), or with a severe form of Parkinson’s with dementia. The disease is characterized by a cognitive deficit (memory, orientation and confusion) which however is fluctuating and in this it is very different from Alzheimer’s, because Alzheimer’s is a slow and progressive decay, while in this form there are moments of confusion and moments of lucidity when the patient is normal and has nothing. Another even more relevant feature is an intolerance to major sedatives used for other dementias, i.e. so-called neuroleptic drugs that serve for hallucinations and delirium (often also present in the form of Lewy) which, if taken, suddenly and drastically worsen these sick people”.
How do you arrive at the correct diagnosis?
«There are specific criteria: the presence of a fluctuating cognitive deficit; the presence of hallucinosis, which are images or people that the patient sees, but if he thinks about it he understands that they are not real (in the case of hallucinations the patient thinks they are true); another criterion for diagnosis is the presence of sleep disorders, for which the patient is as if he were having dreams while living them (he fidgets, screams, can fall out of bed, participates, reacts if struck); finally, in a second phase, parkinsonian symptoms also intervene, which are not present in Alzheimer’s ».
What are the red flags?
«The signals are generally disturbances of confusion or memory disturbances alternated with lucidity, however most patients underestimate, it is the family members who realize that something is wrong. A red flag is when these memory disturbances come and go and are accompanied by sleep disturbances with nightmares. ‘
Many people complain of memory problems over the years. When it comes to troubling signs, how can you tell them apart?
“Memory disturbance is worrying when it interferes with daily activities: most people have subjective memory disturbances, then in reality they are able to do everything normally, be it going to the grocery store and doing the math, the activity working, knowing how to use the cell phone … when these memory disturbances interfere with daily activity, then they are a signal to be taken seriously ».
What is the life expectancy for this condition?
«Generally 5 years on average, but it depends a lot if it is diagnosed in time and is treated with the drugs that are there, avoiding those that are bad. In a family care situation it can last many years (in Monica Vitti’s case it was 20 years, ed). Death occurs (for all dementias) because the patient is no longer self-sufficient, is bedridden, wastes and undergoes infections (usually lung infections) that lead to death, but we are really talking about the last stages of the disease “.
What are the possible treatments?
“There are drugs that increase cognitive abilities, those for Parkinson’s, for hallucinosis: it is a complex therapy because the patient has more symptoms. In fact, the drugs available treat the symptoms and allow the disease to lengthen, but there are currently no therapies capable of healing or making the patient go back to an earlier stage “.
June 19, 2022 (change June 19, 2022 | 14:54)
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