Parkinson’s Disease Dementia versus Dementia with Lewy Bodies

Catherine Agbokou, MD, MSc, Service de Psychiatrie Adulte, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France.
Emmanuel Cognat, MD, Service de Psychiatrie et de Psychologie Médicale, Hôpital Saint-Antoine, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France.
Florian Ferreri, MD, MSc, Service de Psychiatrie et de Psychologie Médicale, Hôpital Saint-Antoine, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France.

Differentiating between Parkinson’s disease dementia (PDD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is a difficult issue for many clinicians. To date, these diseases share most of their clinical, neuropathological, and management features. Therefore, PDD and DLB are considered by some authors to be the two extremities of a single spectrum disease named Lewy body diseases. Nevertheless, specific diagnostic criteria now exist for each disease and specific diagnosis remains of interest in clinical practice. In this article, we summarize features and diagnostic criteria of both PDD and DLB, compare them, and examine their treatment options.
Key words: Parkinson’s disease dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, Lewy body disease, movement disorders, dementia, treatment.