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Symptoms & Causes
Vascular Dementia Symptoms
Vascular dementia symptoms vary, depending on the part of your brain where blood flow is reduced. Symptoms usually overlap with those of other types of dementia, particularly Alzheimer's disease dementia.
Vascular dementia signs and symptoms involve:
Confusion
Difficulty paying attention and concentrating
Decreased ability to organize thoughts or actions
Decline in ability to evaluate a situation, develop an effective plan and communicate that plan to others
Trouble deciding what to do next
Problems with memory
Restlessness and agitation
Unsteady gait
Unexpected or frequent urge to urinate or inability to control passing urine
Depression or apathy
Vascular dementia symptoms might be most clear-cut when they happen unexpectedly following a stroke. When alterations in your thinking and reasoning seem clearly linked to a stroke, this condition is sometimes known as post-stroke dementia.
At times a typical pattern of vascular dementia symptoms follows a series of strokes or mini strokes. Alterations in your thought processes happen in noticeable steps downward from your previous level of function, unlike the gradual, steady decline which generally happens in Alzheimer's disease dementia.
But vascular dementia could also develop very slowly, just like Alzheimer's disease dementia. What's more, vascular disease and Alzheimer's disease usually happen together.
Research indicates that many people with dementia and evidence of brain vascular disease also suffer from Alzheimer's disease.
Vascular Dementia Causes
Vascular dementia is caused by conditions which damage your brain's blood vessels, decreasing their capacity to supply or provide your brain with the amounts of nutrition and oxygen it requires to perform thought processes effectively.
Common conditions which might lead to vascular dementia include:
Stroke (infarction) blocking a brain artery - Strokes which block a brain artery generally cause a range of symptoms which might include vascular dementia. But some strokes do not cause any noticeable symptoms. These silent strokes further increase dementia risk.
With both silent and apparent strokes, the risk of vascular dementia increases with the number of strokes which happen over time. One type of vascular dementia involving many strokes is known as multi-infarct dementia.Squeezed or chronically damaged brain blood vessels - Conditions which narrow or inflict long-term damage on your brain blood vessels also could lead to vascular dementia. These conditions include the wear and tear related with aging, high blood pressure, abnormal aging of blood vessels (atherosclerosis), diabetes, and brain hemorrhage.
Vascular Dementia Diagnosis
Primary care physicians could nearly always determine that you have dementia, but there is no particular test which verifies you have vascular dementia. Your primary care physician will make a judgment about whether vascular dementia is the most likely cause of your symptoms based on the information you offer, your medical history for stroke or disorders of the heart and blood vessels, and results of tests which might help clarify your diagnosis.
Lab tests
If your medical record does not contain recent values for key indicators of the health of your heart and blood vessels, your primary care physician will assess your:
Blood pressure
Cholesterol
Blood sugar
He or she might also order tests to rule out other potential causes of memory loss and confusion, like:
Thyroid disorders
Vitamin deficiencies
Neurological exam
Your primary care physician is likely to check your overall neurological health by testing your:
Reflexes
Muscular tone and strength, and how strength on one side of your body compared to the other side.
Ability to stand out of a chair and walk through the room.
Sense of touch and sight
Coordination
Balance
Brain imaging
Pictures of your brain could pinpoint visible abnormalities caused by strokes, blood vessel diseases, tumors or trauma which might cause changes in thinking and reasoning. A brain-imaging study could help your primary care physician zero in on more likely causes for your symptoms and rule out other causes.
Brain-imaging procedures your primary care physician might suggest to help diagnose vascular dementia include:
Computerized tomography (CT) scan - For a computerized tomography (CT) scan, you will lie down on a narrow table which slides into a small chamber. X-rays pass through your body from various angles, and a computer uses this information to create detailed cross-sectional pictures (slices) of your brain.
A computerized tomography (CT) scan could offer information about your brain's structure, tell whether any areas show shrinkage and find evidence of strokes, mini-strokes or transient ischemic attacks, blood vessel changes or tumors. Sometimes you will receive an intravenous (IV) injection of a contrast agent which will help highlight specific brain tissues.Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) – An Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses radio waves and a strong magnetic field to produce detailed pictures of your brain. You lie on a narrow table which slides into a tube-shaped Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine, which makes loud banging noises while it produces pictures.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs) are painless, but some people feel claustrophobic inside the machine and are disturbed by the noise. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs) are generally the preferred imaging test because Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could offer even more detail than CT scans about strokes, mini-strokes and blood vessel abnormalities.
Carotid ultrasound
This procedure uses high-frequency sound waves to decide whether your carotid arteries — which run up through either side of your neck to supply blood to the brain —
show signs of constricting as a result of plaque deposits or structural problems. Your test might include a Doppler ultrasound, which shows the movement of blood through your arteries in addition to structural features.
Neuropsychological tests
This type of examination evaluates your ability to:
Speak, write and understand language
Work with numbers
Learn and remember information
Work out a plan of attack and resolve a problem
Respond effectively to hypothetical situations
Neuropsychological tests sometimes show typical outcomes for people with different types of dementia. People with vascular dementia might have an exceptionally hard time evaluating a problem and developing an effective solution.
They might be less likely to have trouble learning new information and remembering than are people with dementia due to Alzheimer's disease unless their blood vessel problems affect specific brain areas crucial for memory. Although, there's usually a lot of overlap in exam results for people with vascular dementia and people who also have the brain changes of Alzheimer's disease.
Vascular Dementia Treatment
Treatment is generally focused on managing health problems and risk factors that contribute to vascular dementia.
Controlling conditions that have an effect on the underlying health of your heart and blood vessels could sometimes slow down the rate at which vascular dementia worsens, And could sometimes stop the decline as well. Depending on your individual situation, your primary care physician might prescribe medications to:
Lower your blood pressure
Lower your cholesterol level
Stop your blood from clotting and keep your arteries clear
Help control your glucose levels if you are diabetic
If you or anyone you know suffers from vascular dementia, the best option for you is treatment by Dr. Ahsan Ali. Call us at (469) 808-0000 to book an appointment