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Commentary on “Vascular cognitive impairment: Today and tomorrow.” Vascular cognitive impairment: Yesterday, today, and tomorrow
Author(s) -
Hachinski Vladimir
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1016/j.jalz.2006.04.002
Subject(s) - yesterday , cognitive impairment , cognition , psychology , psychiatry , physics , astronomy
Most discoveries are reinterpreted rediscoveries. A few decades ago the view prevailed that most cognitive impairment resulted from a slow strangulation of the brain’s blood supply. Alzheimer’s disease gradually supplanted vascular disease as the favored explanation. Now we are rediscovering the importance of vascular causes of cognitive impairment but no longer think that it simply reflects chronic ischemia. The mechanisms of damage, however, remain unclear and controversial. Helena Chiu asks, “Are we really that confused?” Those not confused have not been paying close attention to the literature. However, insight is a good prognostic sign in a confusional state, and Chiu’s review goes a long way in laying out the issues, the unknowns, and the steps to address them. Chiu postulates a sequence of vascular risk factors i