Lewy Body Dementia Quiz: Test Your Knowledge on Dementia Types

Study Notes

Dementia is a progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting daily functioning, with subtypes like Alzheimer's, vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, and frontotemporal dementia.
Neurodegeneration in dementia involves abnormal changes leading to cognitive decline, affecting memory, executive function, language, attention, and visuospatial functions.
Dementia progresses from pre-dementia with subtle symptoms like anosmia to early stage where impairment in daily function is evident, to middle stage needing assistance with personal care, and finally to late stage with severe symptoms like loss of speech and orientation.
Alzheimer's disease, the most common subtype, involves accumulation of beta amyloid and Tau proteins in the brain, leading to neuronal dysfunction and death.
Vascular dementia, accounting for around 15% of cases, is linked to blood supply disturbances causing ischemia and cell loss, often related to small strokes.
Lewy body dementia, seen in 10% of cases, is characterized by fluctuating cognition, visual hallucinations, and parkinsonian symptoms like bradykinesia.
Frontotemporal dementia, common in those under 65, involves TDP-43 and Tau protein, with subtypes like behavioral variant (personality changes) and semantic variant (language difficulties), with genetics and age being major risk factors for dementia.- APO lipoprotein E genes play a significant role in later onset Alzheimer's as regulators of lipid metabolism and their interaction with beta amyloid. The E4 variant is associated with a 50% risk of developing Alzheimer's, while having two alleles increases the risk to 90%.
Cognitive Reserve, which is the ability to tolerate neuronal loss before function is impaired, is influenced by factors such as social isolation, low education, and job complexity levels, leading to a higher likelihood of developing dementia.
Vascular dementia risk factors include hypertension, smoking, diabetes, and high cholesterol levels.
The only conclusive diagnostic test for Alzheimer's is a brain biopsy with histological confirmation, although non-invasive imaging techniques like PET scans are being developed to detect histological findings.
CT Imaging can help rule out other causes of cognitive impairment and reveal cerebral atrophy, which is suggestive but not specific for dementia.

Description

Test your knowledge on different subtypes of dementia such as Alzheimer's, vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, and frontotemporal dementia, their neurodegenerative processes, progression stages, risk factors, genetic influences, and diagnostic methods.