Featured Review: Dementia with Lewy bodies - an update and outlook

Tiago Fleming Outeiro, David J. Koss […] Ian McKeith

Molecular Neurodegeneration

Dementia with Lewy bodies: an update and outlook

Tiago Fleming OuteiroEmail author View ORCID ID profile,
David J. Koss,
Daniel Erskine,
Lauren Walker,
Marzena Kurzawa-Akanbi,
David Burn,
Paul Donaghy,
Christopher Morris,
John-Paul Taylor,
Alan Thomas,
Johannes Attems and
Ian McKeithEmail author

Molecular Neurodegeneration201914:5

https://doi.org/10.1186/s13024-019-0306-8

Received: 28 November 2018
Accepted: 8 January 2019
Published: 21 January 2019

Abstract

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is an age-associated neurodegenerative disorder producing progressive cognitive decline that interferes with normal life and daily activities. Neuropathologically, DLB is characterised by the accumulation of aggregated α-synuclein protein in Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites, similar to Parkinson’s disease (PD). Extrapyramidal motor features characteristic of PD, are common in DLB patients, but are not essential for the clinical diagnosis of DLB. Since many PD patients develop dementia as disease progresses, there has been controversy about the separation of DLB from PD dementia (PDD) and consensus reports have put forward guidelines to assist clinicians in the identification and management of both syndromes. Here, we present basic concepts and definitions, based on our current understanding, that should guide the community to address open questions that will, hopefully, lead us towards improved diagnosis and novel therapeutic strategies for DLB and other synucleinopathies.