Vascular dementia (VaD) is dementia caused by problems in the supply of blood to the brain, typically a series of minor strokes, leading to worsening cognitive abilities, the decline occurring piecemeal. The term refers to a syndrome consisting of a complex interaction of cerebrovascular disease and risk factors that lead to changes in brain structures due to strokes and lesions, resulting in changes in cognition. The temporal relationship between a stroke and cognitive deficits is needed to make the diagnosis. Signs and symptoms
Differentiating dementia syndromes can be challenging, due to the frequently overlapping clinical features and related underlying pathology. In particular, Alzheimers disease often co-occurs with vascular dementia.People with vascular dementia present with progressive cognitive impairment, acutely or sub-acutely as in mild cognitive impairment, frequently step-wise, after multiple cerebrovascular events (strokes). Some people may appear to improve between events and decline after further silent strokes. A rapidly deteriorating condition may lead to death from a stroke, heart disease, or infection.The disease is described as both a mental disorder and behavioural disorder within the International Classification of Diseases. Signs and symptoms are cognitive, motor, behavioral, and for a significant proportion of patients, also affective. These changes typically occur over a period of 5–10 years. Signs are typically the same as in other dementias, but mainly include cognitive decline and memory impairment of sufficient severity as to interfere with activities of daily living, sometimes with presence of focal neurologic signs, and evidence of features consistent with cerebrovascular disease on brain imaging (CT or MRI).
Familial thoracic aortic aneurysm and aortic dissection is a very rare vascular genetic disorder, its characterized by recurrent thoracic aortic aneurysms and aortic dissections within a family, these mentioned complications affect one or more aortic segments without any other disease being associated with them. People with this disorder have a higher chance of having a potentially fatal aortic rupture. This disorder is the cause of 20% of thoracic aortic aneurysmsSome families affected by this condition have shown mild versions of some symptoms that are associated with Marfan syndrome and Loeys-Dietz syndrome, these signs include tall stature, joint hypermobility, cutaneous stretch marks, and either pectus excavatum or pectus carinatum. Less common symptoms in other affected families include scoliosis, congenital heart defects, inguinal hernia, and/or livedo reticularis. Etiology
This disorder is caused by mutations in one or more of the following genes:
FOXE3 (located on 1p33)
SMAD2 (located on 18q21.1)
LOX (located on 5q23.3-31.2)
MAT2A (located on ? ??) ELN (located on chromosome 7)
HEY2 (located on 6q22.31)
TGFB3 (located on 14q24.3)
TGFBR1 (located on 9q22.33)
TGFBR2 (located on 3p24.1)
FBN1 (located on 15q21.1)
ACTA2 (located on 10q23.31
MYLK (located on 3q21.1)
SMAD3 (located on 15q22.33)
PRKG1 (located on 10q11.23-q21.1)
MFAP5 (located on 12p13.31)
TGFB2 (located on 1q41)
SMAD4 (located on 18q21.2)
MYH11 (located on 16p13.11)This disorder is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner, meaning only one copy of a mutated gene is needed in order for the disease to develop. == References ==