Dementia with Lewy bodies versus Alzheimer's disease: role of dopamine transporter imaging.

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are the common forms of dementia at post-mortem, but distinguishing between these two types of dementia is often very difficult during life. Ioflupane significantly improves the differentiation during life between DLB and AD patients. However, there is a trend for lower caudate uptake in DLB than PD and lower posterior/caudal putamen uptake in PD than in DLB. Further research is needed to test the hypothesis that dopaminergic degeneration may be different, at least regarding anatomical distribution, in DLB and PD. Furthermore, it is important to consider and discuss the potential for ioflupane in the diagnostic workup of patients with DLB. Copyright 2003 Movement Disorder Society