{"entity":{"id":"dementia-with-lewy-bodies","kind":"cancer","name":"Dementia with Lewy bodies","aka":[],"tldr":"Dementia with Lewy bodies often mixes thinking changes with fluctuating alertness, visual hallucinations, sleep-acting-out, and movement symptoms. Antipsychotics can cause severe sensitivity reactions.","summary":"Lewy body disease involves alpha-synuclein aggregates. Dementia with Lewy bodies is diagnosed when dementia begins before or around the same time as parkinsonism. Care is tailored to cognition, movement, sleep, hallucinations, and blood-pressure changes. Rivastigmine has an FDA indication for Parkinson’s disease dementia, not a disease-modifying Lewy body treatment. There is no FDA disease-modifying treatment for dementia with Lewy bodies.","asOf":"2026-09-21","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dementia_with_Lewy_bodies","links":[{"label":"Alzheimer’s Association: dementia with Lewy bodies","url":"https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/what-is-dementia/types-of-dementia/dementia-with-lewy-bodies"}],"tags":["dementia-atlas"],"related":["parkinsons-disease-dementia","dementia"],"cancers":[],"sections":["da-front-symptomatic-care"],"technologies":["da-tech-cholinesterase-inhibitors"],"targets":["da-target-alpha-synuclein","da-target-ache"],"drugs":["da-rivastigmine"],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["da-bn-subtype-misclassification"],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"group":"dementia","subtypes":[],"biomarkers":["Clinical features (fluctuation, hallucinations, REM sleep behaviour, parkinsonism)","Dopamine transporter imaging in selected cases"],"standardOfCare":[{"setting":"Care, not disease modification","approach":"Review medicines that worsen confusion or blood pressure. Consider rivastigmine where indicated. Avoid antipsychotics unless a clinician experienced in Lewy body disease judges the risk unavoidable.","refs":["da-rivastigmine"],"guideline":{"version":"NICE NG97","url":"https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng97"}}],"stateOfArt":[],"history":[],"pipeline":[],"openProblems":["Misdiagnosis as psychiatric disease or typical Alzheimer’s disease remains common.","Antipsychotic sensitivity is still under-recognised in general settings."],"parent":"dementia"},"route":"/diagnoses/dementia-with-lewy-bodies/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"dementia","kind":"cancer","name":"Dementia (umbrella)","route":"/diagnoses/dementia/"},{"id":"parkinsons-disease-dementia","kind":"cancer","name":"Parkinson’s disease dementia","route":"/diagnoses/parkinsons-disease-dementia/"}],"section":[{"id":"da-front-symptomatic-care","kind":"section","name":"Symptomatic care","route":"/fronts/da-front-symptomatic-care/"}],"technology":[{"id":"da-tech-cholinesterase-inhibitors","kind":"technology","name":"Cholinesterase inhibitors","route":"/technologies/da-tech-cholinesterase-inhibitors/"}],"target":[{"id":"da-target-ache","kind":"target","name":"Acetylcholinesterase","route":"/targets/da-target-ache/"},{"id":"da-target-alpha-synuclein","kind":"target","name":"Alpha-synuclein","route":"/targets/da-target-alpha-synuclein/"}],"drug":[{"id":"da-rivastigmine","kind":"drug","name":"Rivastigmine","route":"/drugs/da-rivastigmine/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"da-bn-subtype-misclassification","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Wrong-subtype treatment","route":"/bottlenecks/da-bn-subtype-misclassification/"}]}}