Vascular brain changes often coexist with changes linked to other types of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies. A growing number of experts prefer the term “vascular cognitive impairment” (VCI) to “vascular dementia” because they feel it better expresses the concept that vascular thinking changes can range from mild to severe. Thinking difficulties may also begin as mild changes that gradually worsen as a result of multiple minor strokes or another condition that affects smaller blood vessels, leading to widespread damage.
In vascular dementia, changes in thinking skills sometimes occur suddenly after a stroke, which blocks major blood vessels in the brain. Inadequate blood flow can damage and eventually kill cells anywhere in the body, but the brain is especially vulnerable.
