Verbal memory impairment in subcortical ischemic vascular disease

In the elderly, the high prevalence of Alzheimer's disease neuropathology presents a major challenge to the investigation of memory decline in common diseases such as small vessel disease. CADASIL represents a unique clinical model to determine the spectrum of memoryimpairment in subcorticalischemicvascular dementia (SIVD). One hundred and forty CADASIL patients underwent detailed clinical, neuropsychological and imaging analyses. The Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test was used as a measure of verbalmemory. Forty-four out of 140 CADASIL patients (31.4%) presented with memoryimpairment according to this test. Eight out of 44 (18.2%) subjects with memoryimpairment matched the definition of the amnestic syndrome of hippocampal type. While alterations in spontaneous recall were related to the severity of subcorticalischemic lesions, the profile of memoryimpairment, particularly the sensitivity to cueing was found related to other factors such as hippocampal atrophy