PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - G Roks
AU  - ESC Korf
AU  - WM van der Flier
AU  - P Scheltens
AU  - CJ Stam
TI  - The use of EEG in the diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies
AID  - 10.1136/jnnp.2007.125385
DP  - 2007 Aug 06
TA  - Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry
4099  - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/early/2007/08/06/jnnp.2007.125385.short
4100  - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/early/2007/08/06/jnnp.2007.125385.full
AB  - Although reports on EEG in dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) are conflicting, the recent diagnostic guidelines define EEG abnormalities as supportive for the diagnosis. We examined EEG abnormalities in 18 DLB patients, 34 Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients and 36 patients with subjective memory complaints (SMC) using the Grand Total EEG (GTE) score. There was a difference in median GTE score of DLB (11.0), AD (4.8), and SMC (2.5) (P<0.001). Patients with DLB had higher scores than patients with AD. ROC analyses revealed that DLB could be distinguished from AD with a sensitivity of 72% and a specificity of 85% at a GTE cut-off of 9.5. The association between GTE and DLB was independent of age, gender, MMSE, and medication use. Frontal intermittent rhythmic delta activity (FIRDA) was found in 2.9% of the AD patients and in 33.3% of the DLB patients. The GTE is a simple EEG scoring method that can be helpful in the differential diagnosis between DLB and AD with a good sensitivity and specificity.