Electroencephalography can Ubiquitously Delineate the Brain Dysfunction of Neurodegenerative Dementia by Both Visual and Automatic Analysis Methods: A Preliminary Study

Introduction: The aim was to examine the differences in electroencephalography (EEG) findings by visual and automated quantitative analyses between Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Parkinson's disease with dementia (PDD). Methods: EEG data of 20 patients with AD and 24 with DLB/PDD (12 DLB and 12 PDD) were retrospectively analyzed. Based on the awake EEG, the posterior dominant rhythm frequency and proportion of patients who showed intermittent focal and diffuse slow waves (IDS) were visually and automatically compared between the AD and DLB/PDD groups. Results: On visual analysis, patients with DLB/PDD showed a lower PDR frequency than patients with AD. In patients with PDR <8 Hz and occipital slow waves or patients with PDR <8 Hz and IDS, DLB/PDD was highly suspected (PPV 100%) and AD was unlikely (PPV 0%). On automatic analysis, the findings of the PDR were similar to those on visual analysis. Comparisons between visual and automatic analysis showed an overlap in the focal slow wave commonly detected by both methods in 10 of 44 patients, and concordant presence or absence of IDS in 29 of 43 patients. With respect to PDR <8 Hz and the combination of PDR <8 Hz and IDS, PPV and NPV in DLB/PDD and AD were not different between visual and automatic analysis. Conclusions: As the noninvasive, widely available clinical tool of low expense, visual analysis of EEG findings provided highly sufficient information to delineate different brain dysfunction in AD and DLB/PDD, and automatic EEG analysis could support visual analysis especially about PD.