Fig. 1

Cerebral vascular lesions and vascular cognitive impairment and dementia. Vascular cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID) is a major cause of age-related cognitive decline related to cerebrovascular damages in cerebral large and small vessels. The internal carotid arteries and the vertebral arteries mediate the arterial blood entry into the brain. The blood supply to the cerebrum is mediated by anterior cerebral arteries (ACA) and middle cerebral arteries (MCA) branched from internal carotid arteries. Posterior cerebral arteries (PCA) arising from vertebral arteries are responsible for the blood supply to the brainstem, cerebellum, and occipital cortex. Leptomeningeal arteries from the cerebral arteries form a network of vessels on the pial surface, which branch into the parenchyma. Based on vascular lesions, severe VCID is generally subtyped as post-stroke dementia, subcortical ischemic vascular dementia, multi-infarct dementia, and mixed dementia. Alzheimer’s disease often coexists with cerebrovascular lesions resulting in mixed dementia