Mental health articles

vascular dementia symptoms and stages

Vascular dementia is the second-most-common form of dementia and accounts for approximately 20% of all cases of dementia. It is caused by problems in the supply of blood to the brain. If the vascular system within the brain becomes damaged and blood cannot reach the brain cells, they will eventually die, which may lead to the onset of vascular dementia. A key feature of vascular

dementia is the sudden onset.

There are a number of conditions which can cause or increase damage to the vascular system. These include high blood pressure, cardiac problems, high cholesterol and diabetes mellitus. It is therefore important that these conditions are identified and treated at the earliest opportunity.

Vascular dementia presents as stroke related dementia, small vessel disease related dementia and mixed dementia (vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease).

Stroke related dementia can result from a single stroke (single infarct) or a series of small strokes (multi-infarct). A person may experience transient ischaemic attacks caused by stroke related dementia.

An infarct is an area of dead tissue, in this case, the brain cells. Multi-infarct dementia comes about when blockages in the blood supply to the brain occur frequently over a period of time in the smaller blood vessels in the brain, causing tiny areas of damage. The process and areas of damage vary, but tend to be gradualand widespread. The onset may not be noticeable at first, although with some people there may be a sudden change.

Tags: symptoms, vascular dementia