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Cognitive Performance Correlates With Cerebrovascular Impairments in Multi‐infarct Dementia
Author(s) -
Judd Brian W.,
Meyer John S.,
Rogers Robert L.,
Gandhi Sunil,
Tanahashi Norio,
Mortel Karl F.,
Tawaklna Talat
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1986.tb04318.x
Subject(s) - medicine , cerebral blood flow , vasomotor , dementia , cardiology , effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance , anesthesia , cognition , disease , psychiatry
Cerebral blood flow (CBF) was measured by the 133 Xe inhalation method in patients with multi‐infarct dementia (MID, N = 26), Alzheimer's dementia (AD, N = 19), and among age‐matched, neurologically normal, healthy volunteers ( N = 26). Cognitive performance was assessed in all subjects using the Cognitive Capacity Screening Examination (CCSE). Cerebral vasomotor responses were calculated from differences in values of mean hemispheric gray matter blood flow (ΔCBF) measured during inhalation of 100% oxygen (hyperoxia) compared with CBF measured while breathing room air. Significant correlations were found between CCSE performance and vasomotor responsiveness in patients with MID ( P < .01), but not in patients with AD or in neurologically normal volunteers. Loss of vasomotor responsiveness is an indicator of cerebrovascular disease with rigidity and/or loss of reactivity of cerebral vessels, which impairs cerebrovascular responses to situational demands and predisposes to cerebral ischemia. Loss of cerebral vasomotor responsiveness among MID patients, which is a biologic marker of cerebrovascular disease, provides confirmatory evidence of the vascular etiology of MID and assists in separating MID from AD patients.