title: When spacing out brings clarity. Mental lapses serve as diagnostic clue for type of dementia.
abstract: NEW YORK CITY--Everyone has slow-witted moments: entering a room only to forget why, putting ice cream into the fridge, or blanking out on how to use the microwave. Some clinicians think that periodic mental lapses might help diagnose dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), a scourge that kills brain cells (see DLB Case Study), although not all experts agree. Now, scientists have found that some cognitive blunders crop up more frequently in patients with DLB than in those with Alzheimer's disease (AD) or in healthy elderly individuals, according to work presented here on 15 January 2004 at an American Medical Association briefing for media.
authors.forename: Rabiya S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Tuma
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans