(Dan Steinberg/Invision/AP Images)
The brain autopsy of Robin Williams showed signs of diffuse Lewy body disease, a dementia that affects 1.4 million Americans and their families, according to the Lewy Body Dementia Association.
Lewy body dementia (LBD) can closely resemble and overlap with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s making it widely underdiagnosed. Some patients start out with a movement disorder leading to a diagnosis of Parkinson’s, then develop dementia and other symptoms of LBD. Others present with cognitive dysfunction that may look like Alzheimer’s initially, but with time, hallucinations, motor impairments and fluctuating attention appear. A third smaller group present first with neuropsychiatric symptoms such as hallucinations, behavioral problems, or difficulty with complex mental activities, and later develop other symptoms.
Learn more about this complex condition with LBD expert Dr. Neill Graff-Radford from the Mayo Clinic at our upcoming research conference on Friday, September 30 in Irvine. Register online before September 9 and SAVE!
