Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Electroencephalogram in dementia with Lewy bodies: a systematic review

  • Review
  • Published:
Aging Clinical and Experimental Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) belongs to the spectrum of Lewy body dementia (LBD) that also encompasses Parkinson’s disease dementia (PDD). It is a common neurodegenerative disorder characterized by memory decline, cognitive fluctuations, visual hallucinations, autonomic nervous system disturbance, REM sleep behavior disorder, and parkinsonism. Definite diagnosis can be established only through neuropathological confirmation of Lewy bodies’ presence in brain tissue. Probable or possible diagnosis relies upon clinical features, imaging, polysomnography, and electroencephalogram (EEG) findings. Potential neurophysiological biomarkers for the diagnosis, management, and evaluation of treatment-response in DLB should be affordable and widely available outside academic centers. Increasing evidence supports the use of quantitative EEG (qEEG) as a potential DLB biomarker, with promising results in discriminating DLB from other dementias and in identifying subjects who are on the trajectory to develop DLB. Several studies evaluated the diagnostic value of EEG in DLB. Visual analysis and qEEG techniques have been implemented, showing a superiority of the last in terms of sensitivity and objectivity. In this systematic review, we attempt to provide a general synthesis of the current knowledge on EEG application in DLB. We review the findings from original studies and address the issues remaining to be further clarified.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. McKeith I (2005) Dementia with Lewy bodies. Dialogues Clin Neurosci 6:333–341

    Google Scholar 

  2. McKeith IG, Boeve BF, Dickson DW, et al (2017) Diagnosis and management of dementia with Lewy bodies: Fourth consensus report of the DLB Consortium 89:88–100. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000004058

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. McKeith IG, Dickson DW, Lowe J et al (2005) Diagnosis and management of dementia with Lewy bodies: third report of the DLB Consortium. Neurology 65:1863–1872. https://doi.org/10.1212/01.wnl.0000187889.17253.b1

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Kosaka K (1978) Lewy bodies in cerebral cortex, report of three cases. Acta Neuropathol 42:127–134. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00690978

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Howlett DR, Whitfield D, Johnson M et al (2015) Regional multiple pathology scores are associated with cognitive decline in Lewy body dementias. Brain Pathol 25:401–408. https://doi.org/10.1111/bpa.12182

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Dugger BN, Adler CH, Shill HA et al (2014) Concomitant pathologies among a spectrum of parkinsonian disorders. Parkinsonism Relat Disord 20:525–529. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.parkreldis.2014.02.012

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Liedorp M, Van Der Flier WM, Hoogervorst EL et al (2009) Associations between patterns of EEG abnormalities and diagnosis in a large memory clinic cohort. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord 27:18–23. https://doi.org/10.1159/000182422

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Briel RCG, McKeith IG, Barker WA et al (1999) EEG findings in dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer’s disease. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 66:401–403. https://doi.org/10.1136/jnnp.66.3.401

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Walker MP, Ayre GA, Cummings JL et al (2000) Quantifying fluctuation in dementia with Lewy bodies, Alzheimer’s disease, and vascular dementia. Neurology 54:1616–1625. https://doi.org/10.1212/wnl.54.8.1616

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Londos E, Passant U, Brun A et al (2003) Regional cerebral blood flow and EEG in clinically diagnosed dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer’s disease. Arch Gerontol Geriatr 36:231–245. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-4943(02)00168-1

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Kai T, Asai Y, Sakuma K et al (2005) Quantitative electroencephalogram analysis in dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer’s disease. J Neurol Sci 237:89–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jns.2005.05.017

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Roks G, Korf ES, Flier WM et al (2008) The use of EEG in the diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 79:377–380. https://doi.org/10.1136/jnnp.2007.125385

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Bonanni L, Thomas A, Tiraboschi P et al (2008) EEG comparisons in early Alzheimer’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson’s disease with dementia patients with a 2-year follow-up. Brain 131:690–705. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awm322

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Andersson M, Hansson O, Minthon L et al (2008) Electroencephalogram variability in dementia with Lewy Bodies, Alzheimer’s disease and controls. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord 26:284–290. https://doi.org/10.1159/000160962

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Snaedal J, Johannesson GH, Gudmundsson TE et al (2012) Diagnostic accuracy of statistical pattern recognition of electroencephalogram registration in evaluation of cognitive impairment and dementia. Dement Geriatr Cogn 34:51–60. https://doi.org/10.1159/000339996

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Lee H, Brekelmans GJ, Roks G (2014) The EEG as a diagnostic tool in distinguishing between dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer’s disease. Clin Neurophysiol 126:1735–1739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2014.11.021

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Engedal K, Snaedal J, Hoegh P et al (2015) Quantitative EEG applying the statistical recognition pattern method: a useful tool in dementia diagnostic workup. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord 40:1–12. https://doi.org/10.1159/000381016

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Van Dellen E, De Waal H, Van der Flier W et al (2015) Loss of EEG Network Efficiency is related to cognitive impairment in dementia with Lewy bodies. Mov Disord 30:1785–1793. https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.26309

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Bonanni L, Perfetti B, Bifolchetti S et al (2015) Quantitative electroencephalogram utility in predicting conversion of mild cognitive impairment to dementia with Lewy bodies. Neurobiol Aging 36:434–445. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2014.07.009

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Caviness J, Utianski R, Hentz J et al (2016) Differential spectral quantitative electroencephalography pattern between control and Parkinson’s disease cohorts. Eur J Neurol 23:387–392. https://doi.org/10.1111/ene.12878

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Dauwan M, Van der Zande J, Dellen E et al (2016) Random forest to differentiate dementia with Lewy bodies from Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s Dement Diagn Assess Dis Monit 4:99–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dadm.2016.07.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Colloby S, Cromarty R, Peraza L et al (2016) Multimodal EEG-MRI in the differential diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies. J Psychiatr Res 78:48–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2016.03.010

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  23. Bonanni L, Franciotti R, Nobili F et al (2016) EEG Markers of dementia with Lewy Bodies: a multicenter cohort study. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 54:1649–1657. https://doi.org/10.3233/JAD-160435

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Ferreira D, Jelic V, Cavallin L et al (2016) Electroencephalography is a good complement to currently established dementia biomarkers. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord 42:80–92. https://doi.org/10.1159/000448394

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Garn H, Coronel C, Waser M et al (2017) Differential diagnosis between patients with probable Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease dementia, or dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementia, behavioral variant, using quantitative electroencephalographic features. J Neural Transm 124:569–581. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-017-1699-6

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Babiloni C, Del Percio C, Lizio R et al (2018) Abnormalities of cortical neural synchronization mechanisms in patients with dementia due to Alzheimer’s and Lewy body diseases: an EEG study. Neurobiol Aging 55:143–158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2017.03.030

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Peraza L, Cromarty L, Kobeleva X et al (2018) Electroencephalographic derived network differences in Lewy body dementia compared to Alzheimer’s disease patients. Sci Rep 8:4637. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-22984-5

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  28. Stylianou M, Murphy N, Peraza L et al (2018) Quantitative electroencephalography as a marker of cognitive fluctuations in dementia with Lewy bodies and an aid to differential diagnosis. Clin Neurophysiol 129:1209–1220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2018.03.013

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  29. Gibb WR, Luthert PJ, Janota I et al (1989) Cortical Lewy body dementia: clinical features and classification. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 52:185–192. https://doi.org/10.1136/jnnp.52.2.185

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  30. Yamamoto T, Imai T (1988) A case of diffuse Lewy body and Alzheimer’s diseases with periodic synchronous discharges. J Neuropathol Exp Neurology 47:536–548. https://doi.org/10.1097/00005072-198809000-00005

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Byrne EJ, Lennox G, Lowe J et al (1989) Diffuse Lewy body disease: clinical features in 15 cases. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 52:709–717. https://doi.org/10.1136/jnnp.52.6.709

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  32. Hely MA, Reid WGJ, Halliday GM et al (1996) Diffuse Lewy body disease: clinical features in nine cases without coexistent AD. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 60:531–538. https://doi.org/10.1136/jnnp.60.5.531

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  33. Walker MP, Ayre GA, Cummings JL et al (2000) The clinician assessment of fluctuation and the one day fluctuation assessment scale. Two methods to assess fluctuating confusion in dementia. Br J Psychiatry 177:252–256. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.177.3.252

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Douw L, Schoonheim MM, Landi D, et al (2011) Cognition is related to resting-state small-world network topology: an magnetoencephalographic study. Neuroscience 175:169–177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2010.11.039

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Franciotti R, Falasca NW, Bonanni L et al (2013) Default network is not hypoactive in dementia with fluctuating cognition: an Alzheimer disease/dementia with Lewy bodies comparison. Neurobiol Aging 34:1148–1158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2012.09.015

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Kenny ER, Blamire AM, Firbank MJ et al (2012) Functional connectivity in cortical regions in dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer’s disease. Brain 135:569–581. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awr327

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Breiman L (2009) Random forest. Mach Learn 45:1–35. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010933404324

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Karnaze DS, MarshallBickford LFRRG (1982) EEG monitoring of clinical coma: the compressed spectral array. Neurology 32:289–292. https://doi.org/10.1212/wnl.32.3.289

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Johnsen K, Johannesson G, Emilsdottir Á, et al (2009) MentisCura diagnostic tool for dementia. https://www.mentiscura.com

  40. Kurita A, Murakami M, Takagi S et al (2010) Visual hallucinations and altered visual information processing in Parkinson disease and dementia with Lewy bodies. Mov Disord 25:167–171. https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.22919

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Perriol MP, Dujardin K, Derambure P et al (2005) Disturbance of sensory filtering in dementia with Lewy bodies: comparison with Parkinson’s disease dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 76:106–108. https://doi.org/10.1136/jnnp.2003.035022

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  42. Bosboom JL, Stoffers D, Stam CJ et al (2009) Cholinergic modulation of MEG resting-state oscillatory activity in Parkinson’s disease related dementia. Clin Neurophysiol 120:910–915. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2009.03.004

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Franciotti R, Iacono D, Penna SD et al (2006) Cortical rhythms reactivity in AD, LBD and normal subjects: a quantitative MEG study. Neurobiol Aging 27:1100–1109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2005.05.027

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  44. Di Lazzaro V, Pilato F, Dileone M et al (2007) Functional evaluation of cerebral cortex in dementia with Lewy bodies. Neuroimage 37:422–429. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.05.003

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. Celebi O, Temucin CM, Elibol B et al (2012) Short latency afferent inhibition in Parkinson’s disease patients with dementia. Mov Disord 27:1052–1055. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.05.003

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This work received no financial support from third parties.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Third Department of Neurology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 3 Arsaki Street, Pefka, 57010, Thessaloníki, Greece

    Simela Chatzikonstantinou, Eleni Karantali, Fivos Petridis & Dimitrios Kazis

  2. Leeds Teaching Hospitals, Leeds, UK

    Jack McKenna & Ioannis Mavroudis

  3. Medical School, Cyprus University, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Ioannis Mavroudis

Authors
  1. Simela Chatzikonstantinou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jack McKenna
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Eleni Karantali
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Fivos Petridis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Dimitrios Kazis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Ioannis Mavroudis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Study concept and design: SC and IM. Acquisition of data: IM. Analysis and interpretation of data: SC, JM, EK, DK. Preparation of manuscript: SC and JM. Revision of manuscript: EK, DK and FP.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Simela Chatzikonstantinou.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflict of interest to disclosure.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Human and animal rights

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any authors.

Informed consent

For this type of study, formal consent is not required.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chatzikonstantinou, S., McKenna, J., Karantali, E. et al. Electroencephalogram in dementia with Lewy bodies: a systematic review. Aging Clin Exp Res 33, 1197–1208 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-020-01576-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-020-01576-2

Keyword

Search

Navigation