Imaging in Dementia With Lewy Bodies: An Overview

J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol. 2016 Sep;29(5):254-60. doi: 10.1177/0891988716654984.

Abstract

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) while common in older age can present a diagnostic challenge to clinicians and is often misdiagnosed as Alzheimer disease (AD). Imaging studies have improved our understanding of the neurobiological changes in DLB during life and how they differ from AD. This has led to significant advances in the development of new techniques, such as dopaminergic imaging, which can aid the clinical diagnosis. Other functional imaging methods also show promise in helping to assess the influence of differing pathologies in DLB, most notably, AD-related and vascular pathology during life. This article will provide an overview of the main imaging findings in DLB.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s; Lewy body; MRI; dementia; imaging.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Alzheimer Disease / diagnostic imaging*
  • Alzheimer Disease / pathology
  • Atrophy / diagnostic imaging
  • Atrophy / etiology
  • Atrophy / pathology*
  • Brain / diagnostic imaging
  • Brain / pathology*
  • Brain Mapping
  • Dementia / diagnostic imaging*
  • Dementia / pathology
  • Humans
  • Lewy Bodies / pathology
  • Lewy Body Disease / diagnostic imaging*
  • Lewy Body Disease / pathology
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
  • Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed