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Vascular risk factors are involved in the causation of both vascular dementia (VaD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which together account for up to 80% of all dementias. Asymptomatic spontaneous cerebral emboli (SCE) have been shown to predict future risk of cerebrovascular accidents and silent strokes on MRI. Over a period of years, SCE could potentially cause progressive brain damage and dementia. Our research has shown that SCE occur more frequently in both AD and VaD compared with controls without dementia. SCE are associated with depressive symptoms and predict a more rapid progression of dementia. SCE may be a common mechanism of vascular brain damage that explains the AD, VaD and mixtures of the two. SCE may be a potentially treatable target to slow progression and possibly prevent these dementias.
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