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Alzheimer's Research & Therapy
Published in: Alzheimer's Research & Therapy 1/2015

Open Access 01-12-2015 | Research

Neural correlates of visual hallucinations in dementia with Lewy bodies

Authors: Camille Heitz, Vincent Noblet, Benjamin Cretin, Nathalie Philippi, Laurent Kremer, Mélanie Stackfleth, Fabrice Hubele, Jean Paul Armspach, Izzie Namer, Frédéric Blanc

Published in: Alzheimer's Research & Therapy | Issue 1/2015

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Abstract

Introduction

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between visual hallucinations in dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and brain perfusion using single-photon emission computed tomography.

Methods

We retrospectively included 66 patients with DLB, 36 of whom were having visual hallucinations (DLB-hallu) and 30 of whom were not (DLB-c). We assessed visual hallucination severity on a 3-point scale of increasing severity: illusions, simple visual hallucinations and complex visual hallucinations. We performed voxel-level comparisons between the two groups and assessed correlations between perfusion and visual hallucinations severity.

Results

We found a significant decrease in perfusion in the left anterior cingulate cortex, the left orbitofrontal cortex and the left cuneus in the DLB-hallu group compared with the DLB-c group. We also found a significant correlation between decreased bilateral anterior cingulate cortex, left orbitofrontal cortex, right parahippocampal gyrus, right inferior temporal cortex and left cuneus perfusion with the severity of hallucinations.

Conclusions

Visual hallucinations seem to be associated with the impairment of anterior and posterior regions (secondary visual areas, orbitofrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex) involved in a top-down and bottom-up mechanism, respectively. Furthermore, involvement of the bilateral anterior cingulate cortex and right parahippocampal gyrus seems to lead to more complex hallucinations.
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Metadata
Title
Neural correlates of visual hallucinations in dementia with Lewy bodies
Authors
Camille Heitz
Vincent Noblet
Benjamin Cretin
Nathalie Philippi
Laurent Kremer
Mélanie Stackfleth
Fabrice Hubele
Jean Paul Armspach
Izzie Namer
Frédéric Blanc
Publication date
01-12-2015
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Alzheimer's Research & Therapy / Issue 1/2015
Electronic ISSN: 1758-9193
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13195-014-0091-0

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