A promising method to distinguish vascular dementia from Alzheimer's disease with standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography and quantitative EEG.

In clinical settings, it is difficult to distinguish Alzheimer's disease (AD) from vascular dementia (VD). The present study summarizes a clinical method to distinguish VD and AD at the early stage of the diseases. This study evaluated the possibility of differentiating 25 VD, 25 AD, and 25 healthy individuals (control, CN) by means of power spectral analysis and standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA) within alpha 1, alpha 2, beta 1, beta 2, delta, and theta frequency bands. Electroencephalogram (EEG) spectral analysis and sLORETA indicated that higher diffuse delta/theta and lower central/ posterior fast frequency bands were present in AD compared with CN. VD showed diffuse increased theta power compared with CN and lower delta than AD. AD also presented diffuse higher theta on spectral analysis and decreased alpha 2 and beta 1 values in central/temporal regions by sLORETA. Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores were significantly associated with frontal alpha 1 sLORETA solutions (r = 0.91616, P < .001) and relative power (r = 0.87322, P < .01) in AD, but no correlations were found in VD. In conclusion, EEG spectral and sLORETA together could be a tool to distinguish the different EEG rhythmic activities in AD and VD.