Cholinesterase inhibitors are compatible with psychosocial intervention for Alzheimer disease patients suggested by neuroimaging findings

•We found that the CBF in the frontal lobe was significantly higher in Responders (vs. Non-responders).•The CBF in the parietal lobe, especially the left side, was significantly higher in the Good reminders (vs. Poor reminders).•The donepezil stimulated the areas similar to where the psychosocial intervention was previously found to be stimulated directly, thus the drug was thought to be compatible for psychosocial intervention.•The parietal lobe was stimulated indirectly, suggesting that the indirect effect of the intervention may be based on logical judgment function.

We previously reported that the frontal lobe was stimulated by psychosocial intervention for dementia patients, and that the parietal lobe was associated with logical judgment. We hypothesized that the combined therapeutic approach with symptomatic drug treatment can directly stimulate not only attention function but also judgment function indirectly to observing other participants' behaviors. Fifty-two patients with Alzheimer disease underwent the group reminiscence approach with reality orientation, as well as the donepezil treatment. The cerebral blood flow (CBF) was assessed with 99 mTc-ECD SPECT. Two analyses were performed: Analysis 1 was to compare Responders vs. Non-responders as shown by MMSE scores, whereas Analysis 2 was to compare Good vs. Poor reminders of the intervention content. We found that the CBF in the frontal lobe was significantly higher in Responders (vs. Non-responders). The CBF in the parietal lobe, especially the left side, was significantly higher in the Good reminders (vs. Poor reminders). The donepezil stimulated the areas similar to where the psychosocial intervention was previously found to be stimulated directly, thus the drug was thought to be compatible for psychosocial intervention. The parietal lobe was stimulated indirectly, suggesting that the indirect effect of the intervention may be based on logical judgment function.