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| Spontaneous Cerebral Emboli |
| There is increasing interest in the possiblity that dementia maybe caused by multiple small emboli entering the blood flow to the brain. |
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Spontaneous Cerebral Emboli
There is increasing interest in the possiblity that dementia maybe caused by multiple small emboli entering the blood flow to the brain. Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia account for over 80% of all patients with dementia. Dementia will involve over 775,000 patients (Alzheimer’s Soceity) in the UK alone and has similar costs to the NHS to that of stroke and breast cancer. Large emboli entering the brain would cause stroke, but small emboli may lodge in the brain causing cerebral damage but without symptoms. The silent emboli may enter the brain every day over many years causing an accumulation of damage that results in memory loss.
The idea for our research on the causes of dementia came from studies in patients under going carotid and open heart surgery. These patients experience deterioration in cognitive function associated with transient brain damage. Low blood flow causes a different cognitive defect to multiple emboli. Multiple small emboli during both carotid and open-heart surgery cause subsequent memory loss. As a result of this research, we wondered whether repeated small emboli over many years might be the cause of both Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. Our research has confirmed that there is a strong association between spontaneous small cerebral emboli and dementia in the elderly. In fact, it appears that all patients with dementia also have spontaneous cerebral emboli, which suggests that these emboli are indeed the cause of dementia. Anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin are known to reduce the frequency of dementia in the population. These same drugs also inhibit Spontaneous Cerebral Emboli in patients with arterial disease.
It is too early to recommend treatment for the prevention of dementia even though the research studies that have been undertaken have been large and supported by major research charities. Never the less, there is the prospect that appropriate treatment might be offered to reduce cerebral embolisation. Cerebral emboli may be a preventable cause of dementia.
Article published: 30/08/2006
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