Magnetic resonance imaging in vascular dementia

Abstract

Patients with vascular dementia show distinctive white matter lesions on MRI. We performed MRI on 34 patients with documented ischemic cerebrovascular disease to see whether demented and nondemented patients differ with respect to enlarged CSF spaces or white matter lesions. All eight demented patients had white matter lesions on MRI, just as did many borderline and nondemented patients. Enlargement of central CSF spaces was the only radiographic feature that was seen more commonly in demented than in nondemented patients with ischemic cerebrovascular disease.

Leukoaraiosis and dementia.

“…Our findings are consistent with those of Hershey et al, 8 who found that 50% of their patients with vascular dementia had enlarged ventricles on magnetic resonance imaging, and with those of Loeb et al, 12 who found a more significant ventricular enlargement in patients with multi-infarct dementia than in nondemented patients with multiple infarcts. …”

Alzheimer's Disease

“…These findings have revived the interest in the radiolucencies seen on CT of de mentia which may represent the same pathological phenomenon (42,53, 89). It is possible that these intriguing areas of increased signal may help distin guish AD from dementi as caused by cerebrovascular disease (2, 42, 68,117).…”

Dementia due to vascular disease--a multifactorial disorder.

“…It is also evident that the association of dementia with a history of stroke does not prove that the cause of the dementia is vascular, 1 -217 nor can the diagnosis of vascular dementia be made on the basis of CT or MRI. 40 …”