With an aging population suffering from a high level of cardiac and cerebrovascular disease, it has become increasingly clear that the time may be ripe for a deeper understanding of vascular disease (VaD). In Vascular Dementia: Cerebrovascular Mechanisms and Clinical Management, a panel of multidisciplinary experts summarizes our current understanding of the biological and clinical aspects of the condition. The authors describe the basic mechanisms associated with aging and cerebrovascular disease that may play an important role in the development of VaD, and identify its impact on cognitive status, psychiatric health, and the ability of patients to complete the tasks of daily living. Additional chapters address the pharmacological management of vascular dementia and the use of neuroimaging methods to investigate it, with particular attention devoted to both functional and structural imaging techniques. The complex relationship between VaD and Alzheimer's disease (AD) is fully explored, with chapters on how these processes may interact and how one disease may lower the threshold for clinical expression of the other. The authors also consider the impact of VaD on the perceived quality of life of patients and caregivers, two issues rarely discussed in the scientific community.
Comprehensive and thoroughly up-to-date, Vascular Dementia: Cerebrovascular Mechanisms and Clinical Management offers both clinicians and basic scientists a wide ranging account of this rapidly developing field, explores the direction of future VaD studies, and authoritatively describes today's optimal therapeutic approaches.

Zusammenfassung
A multidisciplinary survey of our current understanding of the biological and clinical aspects of vascular disease. The authors describe its basic mechanisms, its clinical characteristics, its pharmacological management, and the use of neuroimaging methods to investigate it. The complex relationship between VaD and AD is also fully explored with chapters on how these processes interact and how one disease may lower the threshold for clinical expression of the other.

Inhalt
The Aging Population and the Relevance of Vascular Dementia.- Clinical Forms of Vascular Dementia.- The Neuropathologic Substrates of Vascular-Ischemic Dementia.- Diagnosis of Vascular Dementia.- Basic Mechanisms of Vascular Dementia.- Cerebral Hemodynamics in the Elderly.- The CADASIL Syndrome and Other Genetic Causes of Stroke and Vascular Dementia.- Estrogen, the Cerebrovascular System, and Dementia.- Effects of Hypertension in Young Adult and Middle-Aged Rhesus Monkeys.- The Impact of Vascular Dementia on Cognitive, Psychiatric, and Daily Living.- The Cognitive Profile of Vascular Dementia.- Progression of Cognitive Impairments Associated With Cerebrovascular Disease.- Neuropsychiatric Correlates of Vascular Injury.- Functional Impairment in Vascular Dementia.- Neuroimaging of Vascular Dementia.- Functional Brain Imaging of Cerebrovascular Disease.- Contributions of Subcortical Lacunar Infarcts to Cognitive Impairment in Older Persons.- White Matter Hyperintensities and Cognition.- Poststroke Dementia.- Interactions Between Vascular Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.- Understanding Incidence and Prevalence Rates in Mixed Dementia.- Vascular Basement Membrane Abnormalities and Alzheimer's Disease.- Amyloid Beta and the Cerebral Vasculature.- Cerebrovascular Disease and the Expression of Alzheimer's Disease.- The Neuropsychological Differentiation Between Alzheimer's Disease and Subcortical Vsascular Dementia.- Clinical Management of Vascular Dementia.- Pharmacological Treatment of Vascular Dementia.- Understanding and Managing Caregiver Burden in Cerebrovascular Disease.- Quality of Life in Patients With Vascular Dementia.- Approaches to Neuroprotection and Recovery Enhancement After Acute Stroke.