Dementia With Lewy Bodies
Dementia With Lewy Bodies OverviewDementia is a progressive (gradually worsening) decline of mental abilities that disturbs "cognitive" functions such as memory, thought processes, and speech as well as behavior, and movements. Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is the name for a group of disorders in which dementia is caused by the presence of Lewy bodies in the brain. Lewy bodies are small round clumps of normal proteins that for unknown reasons become abnormally clumped together inside neurons (brain cells). Whether the Lewy bodies directly cause gradual degeneration (damage) to the brain cells, impairing their function and eventually killing them, or are only a marker of some other destructive process is not known. Next: Dementia With Lewy Bodies Causes » |
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Dementia With Lewy Bodies
Spinal Tap Introduction
- A spinal tap is a procedure performed when a doctor needs to look at the cerebrospinal fluid (also known as spinal fluid). Spinal tap is also referred to as a lumbar puncture, or LP.)
- Some of the reasons your doctor may want to do a spinal tap include the following:
- To look for infection
- To check to see if there is bleeding around the brain (subarachnoid hemorrhage)
- To look for causes of unexplained seizures
- To look for causes of headaches
- To look for infection
- Cerebrospinal fluid is a liquid that bathes the brain and spinal cord. An adult has about 140 mL (just under 5 oz) of spinal fluid. Typically, an adult makes 30-100 mL of spinal fluid daily.
- A spinal tap can be performed in any person and at any age from newborn to age 100 years ...
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Dementia With Lewy Bodies »
Frederick Lewy first described Lewy bodies (LBs), cytoplasmic inclusions found in cells of the substantia nigra in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease, in 1914.



