Dementia Japan 29: 44-50, 2015

Cerebral small vessel disease and dementia

Kazuo Kitagawa

Department of Neurology, Tokyo Women's Medical University

    Involvement of vascular risk factors for dementia has attracted much attention.  The presence of small vessel disease increases the risk of incident dementia.  Although it remains unclear how these two are related, vascular inflammation and endothelial dysfunction could underlie the linkage between vascular factor and dementia.  Stratification of patients at high risk of dementia with brain imaging and biomarker measurement could facilitate the early intervention, thus leading to efficient prevention of cognitive decline and dementia development.

Address correspondence to Dr. Kazuo Kitagawa, Department of Neurology, Tokyo Women's Medical University(8-1 Kawada-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8666)