Voxel-Based Morphometry Analysis of Structural MRI for Differentiation Between Dementia with Lewy Bodies and Alzheimer’s Disease [Letter]

Abstract

Shohei Inui, 1, 2 Keita Sakurai, 1 Yoshio Hashizume 3 1Department of Radiology, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan; 2Department of Radiology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; 3Choju Medical Institute, Fukushimura Hospital, Aichi, JapanCorrespondence: Keita SakuraiDepartment of Radiology, Teikyo University School of Medicine, 2-11-1 Kaga, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo 173-8605, JapanTel [phone]Email [email protected]   We read the article entitled “Differentiation Between Dementia With Lewy Bodies And Alzheimer’s Disease Using Voxel-Based Morphometry Of Structural MRI: A Multicenter Study” by Matsuda et al with great interest.1 The authors recruited  239 patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and 385 patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and evaluated the utility of Voxel-Based Specific Regional Analysis System for Alzheimer’s Disease (VSRAD®) for their differentiation. They also emphasized the value of dorsal brainstem (DBS) atrophy in addition to medial temporal lobe (MTL) atrophy. As the authors noted, to differentiate AD from DLB is important in the clinical setting to select appropriate pharmacotherapy. Considering the difficulty of using indicative biomarkers including dopamine transporter SPECT in all patients, it is beneficial to reinforce the supportive feature MRI using voxel-based morphometry for the differential diagnosis. View the original paper by Matsuda H and colleagues