Cerebrovascular Disease and Cognition

While this chapter focuses on the cognitive consequences of cerebrovascular disease, it is also important to know that cerebrovascular disease is not a unitary condition but rather multiple conditions that affect the cerebrovascular health of the brain. These include obvious conditions such as ischemic and intracerebral hemorrhagic stroke, aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations, cardiac arrest, and carotid-artery occlusion and stenosis. In addition, cerebrovascular disease often leads to conditions primarily based on the cognitive consequences of these conditions, which would include vascular cognitive impairment and vascular dementia. This chapter will include a brief discussion of cardiovascular disease and epidemiology, followed by a discussion of the specifics of cerebrovascular disease, including mechanisms of action and cognitive ramifications. We will then briefly discuss treatment for cerebrovascular disease, and the chapter will conclude with a case example detailing the cognitive effects of vascular cognitive impairment.