ABSTRACT
Vascular dementia (VaD) is a heterogeneous syndrome, encompassing a wide variety of symptoms. The reason is at least partly the heterogeneity of the pathophysiological processes and of the size, number and locations of the various tissue lesions. The current description of VaD symptomatology was outlined by Roth (1955) and by Mayer-Gross et al (1969) in the textbook Clinical Psychiatry. The main characteristics of VaD were stated as ‘dementia associated with focal signs and symptoms indicative of cerebrovascular disease’ and ‘a remittent or markedly fluctuating course at some stage of dementing process’. In the last couple of years there has been an increasing interest in VaD with special attention being paid to its subtypes and preliminary stages.
