IngentaConnect Defining dementia: clinical criteria for the diagnosis of vascula...

Author: Román, G. C.¹

Source: Acta Neurologica Scandinavica, Volume 106, Supplement 178, December 2002 , pp. 6-9(4)

Abstract:

Román GC. Defining dementia: clinical criteria for the diagnosis of vascular dementia.

Acta Neurol Scand 2002: 106 (Suppl. 178): 6-9. © Blackwell Munksgaard 2002.

The recognition of cerebrovascular disease (CVD) as a contributing factor and a cause of dementia has led to the development of clinical criteria for vascular dementia (VaD). Due to high specificity, the consensus criteria developed by the National Institute for Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)-Association Internationale pour la Recherche et l'Enseignement en Neurosciences (AIREN) have been used in controlled clinical trials to select patients with pure VaD. VaD is predominantly a subcortical frontal form of dementia with prominent executive dysfunction. In contrast, the criteria of the NINCDS-Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association (ADRDA) emphasize memory loss as the main feature to distinguish Alzheimer's disease (AD) from VaD and from other forms of dementia. Moreover, CVD may precipitate the clinical expression of AD. Although no criteria have been created specifically for patients having AD with CVD, the ischemic score, the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly and a history of prestroke mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may be useful for identifying patients with this mixed form of dementia.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; subcortical dementia; cerebrovascular disease; vascular dementia; poststroke dementia; mild cognitive impairment

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1034/j.1600-0404.106.s178.2.x

Affiliations: 1: University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, TX, USA

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