Medline article

[Guest guest]

Recently there was a Medline article about Alzheimer's that stated that

Vascular Dementia was the second most common dementia and listed the

symptoms so it sounded almost identical to LBD. Through a little sleuthing

I as able to find the email address of the author. Below is my email and

his reply

Dear Dr.Mega: I just read your excellent article about Alzheimer's Disease

on Medline. One caveat: Where does LewyBodyDisease fit in with this? If the

target audience for these articles is primary care providers then the lack

of any mention of LBD could be very midleading. You state that Vascular

Dementia is the second leading cause of Dementia but some researchers have

stated that up to 25% of Alzheimer's diagnosed patients in nursing homes

may in fact have LBD. And many of the symptoms you write of as related to

Vascular Dementia are also shared by LBD.

I am not a physician but my husband is. He was diagnosed at Beth Israel

Hospital's Movement Disorder Clinic in NYC this year as having Lewy Body

Dementia. Since then, I have joined an email group of LBD Caregivers.

Members are from all over the world and the common theme is the

mis-diagnoses of the disease, particularly in nursing homes, and improper

medication, often with devasting effects. I was wondering if your Center

" recognizes " LBD and studies it as a separate disease entity. Thank you for

your time in reading this. Imelda Fagin

Dear Ms Fagin,

Yes our center does recognize the LBD patients and I left them out from this

primary care article, perhaps wrongly, because I was given only 2000 words to

cover the examination of patients with memory complaints.

I wish it had been otherwise.

Best wishes,--

S. Mega, MD, PhD

Director, Memory Disorders Clinic

Asst Prof, Dept. Neurology

Laboratory of Neuroimaging

Rm 4238 Neurological Research Center

Los Angeles, CA 90095-1769

Phone

Fax

If you don't belong to Medline, it's free and a great source of current

info: join the neurology line for email updates on article on

LBD,Alzheimer's etc.

To contact an author, my method is to go to the university or hospital

website where they are affiliated and usually you can tract down there

email address through facutly listing. Imelda