Genetic Alzheimer Disease and Sporadic Dementia With Lewy Bodies: A Comorbidity Presenting as Primary Progressive Aphasia
Abstract
We report a 44-year-old woman, with a family history of early-onset dementia, presenting with primary progressive aphasia. This clinically variable syndrome has multiple underlying pathologies, and correlations between clinical manifestations and postmortem neuropathologic findings are controversial.
Our patient suffered worsening language impairment with major word-finding difficulties but preserved comprehension. She also developed episodic memory impairment.
Her condition progressed to dementia with behavioral changes. Magnetic resonance imaging showed early left perisylvian and bitemporal atrophy.
The patient died shortly afterward from colon cancer. Neuropathologic examination revealed advanced early-onset Alzheimer and Lewy body disease, plus a clinically nonrelevant metastasis of her colon cancer in her left parietal lobe.
Genetic examination revealed a p.Glu184Asp mutation in the presenilin1 gene. Our findings confirm the importance of a thorough appreciation for the clinical and neuropathologic correlations in patients with atypical neurodegenerative dementias.