Imaging of vascular disease in dementia

The incidence of cerebrovascular disease and its manifestations with lacunes, white matter hyperintensities, and infarcts increases with age. Therefore, such changes are frequently found in association with other neurodegenerative diseases and may further impair cognitive functions. However, vascular components of dementia might be treatable and specific treatments for other forms of dementia might be developed in the future. Non invasive neuroimaging techniques like structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or functional techniques like positron emission tomography (PET), perfusion MR, diffusion tensor imaging and MR spectroscopy, have shown to be helpful not only for better differential diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases but also for a better understanding of the mechanisms leading to cognitive impairment in these diseases. By providing surrogate markers for neurodegeneration, they might also take on an important role in monitoring the effects of specific treatments of different forms of dementia.