Imaging technique can differentiate Alzheimer's disease from dementia with Lewy bodies Scientists in Portugal and the United Kingdom were able to confirm that an imaging technique that traces neuronal dopaminergic deficiency in the brain is able to differentiate, in vivo, dementia with Lewy This could have important implications for the specific management and treatment of these conditions. American actor Robin Williams had a neurodegenerative brain disease called dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB): a distressing disease, with symptoms in common with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD). But unlike these two conditions, DLB also entails prominent mood and cognitive swings, sleep disorders, and vivid, sometimes terrifying, visual hallucinations.