Vascular cognitive impairment: issues of diagnosis and treatment

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Stroke is second to third most common cause of death in the population and the leading cause of disability. More than 12 million strokes are registered annually in the world. Cognitive impairments (CI) significantly contribute to the disability of patients after a stroke, which limit daily activities no less than movement disorders. The article presents data on the prevalence of post-stroke CI (PSCI), examines the issues of epidemiology, risk factors, the main clinical and pathogenetic data of disorders, the peculiarities of their diagnosis and treatment. The issues of the dipyridamole use for the prevention of stroke and in patients with PSCI are discussed.

Issues of management of patients with post-stroke cognitive impairment

Локшина

Grishina

2023

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Alzheimer's disease: diagnosis and treatment, errors in patient management

Parfenov,

Grishina,

Tyurina

2024

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common degenerative disease of the brain leading to dementia. AD is the most common cause of disability among age-related diseases. The diagnosis of AD is based on clinical findings and is confirmed by the presence of positive biological markers of the disease, which reflect the pathological formation of beta-amyloid and tau protein in the brain. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain shows brain atrophy in AD and helps to rule out other diseases. Psychosocial and behavioral approaches form the basis for the treatment of patients with AD; cognitive training in combination with regular physical exercise is recommended. Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors and the glutamate receptor blocker memantine are used as drugs that improve the cognitive functions of patients with AD. Dispersible forms of memantine are used to treat dysphagia in patients with AD. The efficacy and safety of pathogenetic therapy aimed at eliminating cerebral beta-amyloid by passive immunization is under discussion. Unfortunately, AD is rarely diagnosed in our country; doctors are not sufficiently informed about the diagnosis and modern treatment methods of AD. Many AD patients are observed with the misdiagnosis of chronic cerebrovascular disease and do not receive effective therapy. A clinical observation of a patient with early-onset AD is presented, reflecting typical errors in patient management. Issues for optimizing the management of AD patients are discussed.

Clinical features of vascular cognitive impairment

Martynova,

Vakhnina,

Zakharov

2024

Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) can occur in cerebrovascular disease of varying degree of severity, which requires further investigation.Objective: to identify specific features of attention deficit and executive function (EF) impairment in VCI and to determine the relationship between cognitive, neurological and radiological signs of the disease.Material and methods. The study involved 80 patients (51 with VCI – the main group and 29 healthy volunteers – the control group). All participants underwent clinical and neuropsychological examination and MRI of the brain. VCI was diagnosed according to 2014 VASCOG criteria. The neuropsychological examination included an assessment of the general cognitive function (MoCA test, MMSE); general EF (FAB, EXIT-25); episodic memory (12-word memory test and Benton Visual Retention Test); semantic memory (categorical association method); initiation and productivity of cognitive activity (literal associations); attention [TMT-A, Symbol-Digit Modalities Test (SDMT)]; cognitive flexibility (TMT-B); cognitive control (Stroop test).Results. As a result of the study, three subgroups of patients with VCI were identified: 1) predominantly attention deficit (AD); 2) AD and significant decrease in cognitive flexibility (CFD); 3) AD in combination with a significant cognitive control deficiency (CCD). The TMT-A and SDMT tests were significantly worse in all subgroups of VCI compared to the control group, with the worst SDMT score in subgroup 2. Subgroup 2 also had the longest time to complete the TMT-B test. Subgroup 3 was characterized by the worst Stroop test results, and uncontrolled arterial hypertension was more common in this group. Gait disturbances were significantly more frequent in subgroup 2, and increased reflexes of oral automatism and grasp reflex were observed in subgroup 3. White matter hyperintensity (WMH) was more pronounced in subgroup 2, and lacunar infarcts (LI) were more frequent in subgroup 3. Prevalence of LI and severity of WMH were lowest in subgroup 1.Conclusion. The main features of VCI are attention deficit and EF impairment, characteristics of EF disorders depend on the severity and type of vascular lesions of the brain. Progression of WMH is associated with more pronounced CFD and an increase in the number of LI is associated with CCD. There is a correlation between CFD and gait disturbances and between CCD and lack of primitive reflexes inhibition.