Ricerca Finalizzata 2019 - GR-2019-12369242

Shedding light on dementia with Lewy Bodies: a randomized controlled trial using a multimodal ‘Bright Light Treatment to modulate brain functional responses through the eyes.

Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) patients typically experience cognitive and behavioral dysfunctions that can be very distressing to both patients and caregivers, and extremely demanding for health care system. Despite these challenges and the relatively high prevalence of the disease, the evidence base for intervention strategies remains unclear. This project will aim to overcome this gap, showing for the first time in a DLB population, with a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT), the feasibility and efficacy of a novel multimodal blue-enhanced Bright Light Treatment. Besides clinical outcomes, changes in melanopsin retinal ganglion cells (mRGCs) system will also be evaluated using a monochromatic light fMRI protocol. The results of this project will add valuable information to the current knowledge base of DLB for both scientific and clinical communities, helping clinicians in the prognosis and management of the disease, with the end goal of improving patients quality of life.

Scientific Coordinator: Dott. Micaela Mitolo (Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche -Bologna)

PI for the unit University of Bologna: Prof. Annalisa Bosco.