Gray matter atrophy in dementia with Lewy bodies with and without concomitant Alzheimer's disease pathology

We aimed to study if patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) who have concomitant Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology (detected antemortem by cerebrospinal fluid [CSF] biomarkers) have additional loss of gray matter volume. Ninety-eight DLB patients were divided into a “pure DLB” (DLB/AD−, n = 62) and a “mixed DLB” group (DLB/AD+, n = 36) and matched for age and symptom duration to 84 AD patients and 75 controls. We compared visual atrophy ratings, and in a subset, we analyzed cortical thickness and subcortical gray matter volumes. DLB/AD+ patients had more pronounced medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA) compared to DLB/AD− (mean [total] MTA score 2.5 vs. 1.3, p = 0.02). Global and parietal atrophy scores were comparable between the 3 dementia groups and differed from controls. MTA score was associated with CSF Aβ-42, while posterior cortical and global atrophy scores were associated with CSF tau. Cortical thinning was found in DLB/AD−, DLB/AD+, and AD compared to controls. Concomitant AD pathology seems to cause additional (hippocampal) atrophy in DLB, and this may contribute to a more devastating disease course in DLB/AD+ patients.