Vascular Dementia In America

Dementia is a general term for a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life( http://www.alz.org/what-is-dementia.asp) .The most commonly heard of form of dementia is alzheimers desease. And although this makes sense, considering it is the most common form, affecting around 5.4 million Americans (http://www.alz.org/facts/), there are other forms that deserve to be recognized. The second and third most common forms of dementia in America are Vascular Dementia and Lewy Body Dementia. Primarily, we will focus on vascular dementia, also refered to as “multi-infarct dementia” or “post-stroke dementia” (http://www.alzheimers.net/resources/types-of-dementia/) affecting around 15% to 20% of all patients with dementia. It was first discovered by Thomas Willis in 1672, but was not yet recognized for what it is. Willis believed it to be "brain congestion" caused by untreated hypertension. This
Less commonly, it may be a result of dammaged blood vessels in the brain. (http://www.webmd.com/stroke/vascular-dementia) (Looking back, although Thomas Willis did not completely define Vascular Dementia, he was not too far off. He recognized that hypertension is a cause of "brain congestion", and now we know that hypertension can lead to stroke, which may then lead to Vascular Dementia) Symptoms of Vascular dementia include loss of short-term memory, impaired judgement, loss of motivation, hallucinations, trouble with concentrating and planning along with possible loss of bladder and/or bowel control and laughing and/or crying at inappropriate times. ( http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/vascular-dementia/basics/symptoms/con-20029330) Though, not all symptoms will be seen in every patient. Which symptoms arise is dependent on which part of the brain was