Abstract

GOMEZ VIERA, Nelson  and  RIVERO ARIAS, Edmundo. Características clínicas e imagenológicas de la demencia vascular. Rev cubana med [online]. 1998, vol.37, n.1, pp. 6-12. ISSN 1561-302X.

A prospective descriptive study of 41 patients suffering from vascular dementia was conducted to know the clinicoradiological characteristics of the disease. The main risk factors observed were cerebrovascular disease history and arterial hypertension. Depression, sleep disorders, and focal and pseudobulbar neurological signs were the most frequent clinical findings. Folstein's neurological test showed an important affectation of attention, calculation, evocative memory and orientation. According to this test, 29 % of the patients had a severe dementia and approximately 50 % severe disability, which may be taken into account due to the fact that the motor and pseudobulbar signs influencing on the deterioration degree do not depend on the mental disorder. The radiological findings most frequently observed in cranial computerized axial tomography were cerebral atrophy and multiple or unique infarcts. The multiple infarcts, the lacunar state, the subcortical encephalopathy of Binswager and the unique infarcts located in cerebral areas connected with cognition were considered as possible physiopathological mechanisms related to the disease.

Keywords : DEMENTIA, VASCULAR [etiology]; DEMENTIA, VASCULAR [physiopatology]; TOMOGRAPHY; X-RAY COMPUTED; PROSPECTIVE STUDIES.

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