Blockages may be caused by build up of plaque on the inside of the arterial wall or by clots which have broken off, jamming a smaller tributary upstream. Clots can also result from abnormal heart rhythms, or other heart pathology, or can form on the inside of the major cartoid arteries that run up the side of the neck and supply the brain. Both of these can be treated with cortisone type drugs or other drugs to suppress the immune system. Finally, blood vessels may burst or haemorrhage. This is a dramatic event, often preceded or accompanied by severe headache, and leading to hospital admission.
Defects are often severe.
The patient s history allows ready diagnosis of this type of vascular dementia. Some Risk Factors for Stroke High blood pressure Diabetes mellitus High cholesterol History of TIAs Evidence of disease in arteries elsewhere, eg. MID is caused by a number of small strokes, called ministrokes. These strokes may be silent in that no one may be aware they have occurred, but they can be seen on various brain scans. Sometimes the brain is damaged but not dead as a result of inadequate blood flow.