Re: Half of Alzheimer's cases misdiagnosed

February 24, 2011

Yes, and the diagnostic accuracy is even lower for DLB:

32% for pure DLB

12% for mixed DLB/AD

See:

The only way to know for sure your LO's confirmed diagnosis is to have the brain

autopsied. Arrangements for brain donation must be made well in advance of

death. A gentleman in Southern California just died this week; his clinical

diagnosis was DLB. The wife and I made the arrangements for his brain donation

nearly two years ago. There was no stress for her with regard to the brain

donation when her husband's death was imminent, and after it occurred. The plan

was set, and all went according to the plan. We'll hear back in 6-8 weeks from

the Mayo Clinic as to the confirmed diagnosis.

I've helped well over 100 families make these arrangements. I do this on a

volunteer basis. I'm happy to help anyone who contacts me in advance of death.

(If the death has already occurred, I'm only able to help local support group

members as I have good contacts locally with funeral homes and pathologists.)

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> Half of Alzheimer's cases misdiagnosed

> Feb. 23, 2011

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> [...]

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> White and his colleagues performed brain autopsies—the only surefire way of

diagnosing Alzheimer's—on more than 400 elderly Japanese-American men. Only

about half of those who had a diagnosis of Alzheimer's before death had the

brain plaques that signal the disease. The dementia in the other half appeared

to have been caused by abnormal protein deposits (known as Lewy bodies),

stroke-related tissue death (microinfarcts), cell damage, or some combination

thereof.

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