Vascular dementia is defined by Zhong et al. (2016) as a general dementia caused by a series of cerebral vascular factors such as ischemic cerebral vascular disease. The dementia is very similar to Alzheimer’s disease and they share some symptoms such as impaired memory and cognitive function. Some of the non-cognitive symptoms of vascular dementia include tinnitus, sleeping disorder, numbness of the extremities, and emotion changes. Calabrese et al. (2016) believes there are two principal components to vascular dementia that are common: a dementia syndrome and a vascular cause of the disease. A diagnosis requires three of the following six symptoms: early behavioral disinhibition, early apathy or inertia, early loss of sympathy or empathy
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However, Chui and her colleagues found that many institutions such as the American Psychological Association and the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke-Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association did not follow similar diagnostic criteria. Certain criteria proposed by different institutions led to a more probable diagnosis of the disease, while other criteria led to low probability of diagnosis. Another difficulty that has been found is misdiagnosis with other dementia due to the similar criteria with vascular dementia (Jung et al., 2016). Jung goes on to say that many vascular dementia patients do not have a “pure” condition, in other words, they also have other dementias. So, even though more criteria have been stated, there is confusion on what constitutes an accurate …show more content…
Therefore, more research needs to be conducted on the differentiating features of the disease. One such example is studying the memory deficits of vascular dementia. It can be inferred that since patients cannot focus on tasks for long periods of time, there could be a deficit in short term memory. Only Holmes and Amin (2016) mentioned short term memory deficits, but this win regards to dementias in general. Furthermore, not many studies have cited studying short term memory in vascular dementia patients, or the connections between the structures of working memory such as the central executive and visuospatial sketch pad. Some simple examples to study these aspects of memory are the digit span task for short term memory, a mental rotation task for the visuospatial sketch pad of working memory, and the n-back task for general working memory, which involves holding sequences in the working memory and deciding if they match the current sequence (Wilhelm, Hildebrandt, & Oberauer, 2013). There should also be MRI scans of the language centers in the brains of vascular dementia patients to view if there is damage to these areas. If there is damage to Wernicke’s area or Broca’s area, then fluent and expressive aphasia could be listed as a symptom of the disease. Most recent research has only stated observations of these deficits. Lastly, there should be more research on the
However, Chui and her colleagues found that many institutions such as the American Psychological Association and the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke-Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association did not follow similar diagnostic criteria. Certain criteria proposed by different institutions led to a more probable diagnosis of the disease, while other criteria led to low probability of diagnosis. Another difficulty that has been found is misdiagnosis with other dementia due to the similar criteria with vascular dementia (Jung et al., 2016). Jung goes on to say that many vascular dementia patients do not have a “pure” condition, in other words, they also have other dementias. So, even though more criteria have been stated, there is confusion on what constitutes an accurate …show more content…
Therefore, more research needs to be conducted on the differentiating features of the disease. One such example is studying the memory deficits of vascular dementia. It can be inferred that since patients cannot focus on tasks for long periods of time, there could be a deficit in short term memory. Only Holmes and Amin (2016) mentioned short term memory deficits, but this win regards to dementias in general. Furthermore, not many studies have cited studying short term memory in vascular dementia patients, or the connections between the structures of working memory such as the central executive and visuospatial sketch pad. Some simple examples to study these aspects of memory are the digit span task for short term memory, a mental rotation task for the visuospatial sketch pad of working memory, and the n-back task for general working memory, which involves holding sequences in the working memory and deciding if they match the current sequence (Wilhelm, Hildebrandt, & Oberauer, 2013). There should also be MRI scans of the language centers in the brains of vascular dementia patients to view if there is damage to these areas. If there is damage to Wernicke’s area or Broca’s area, then fluent and expressive aphasia could be listed as a symptom of the disease. Most recent research has only stated observations of these deficits. Lastly, there should be more research on the