LIVING WITH ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE: MULTIPLE INFARCT DEMENTIA (MID)
Multiple infarcts – a series of strokes – are the second most common cause of dementia. Typically a stroke causes paralysis of the limbs and the face on one side of the body, but there are many areas of the brain where a stroke can affect the intellect without leaving any tell-tale outward signs in the rest of the body. In some cases, however, there is a mixture resulting in both physical abnormalities and intellectual difficulties. Occasionally a single large stroke can also cause dementia, but this is less common.
As dementia caused by strokes is a common affliction, and because its progress can sometimes be halted or slowed down, it deserves a chapter of its own. It is a condition that we should all be aware of and on the look-out for.
Although he is usually associated with the condition that now bears his name, Alois Alzheimer also worked in this field. He published a short report while working in an asylum in Frankfurt describing arteriosclerotic changes in the brain which he identified as usually occurring in late middle age. The symptoms and signs that he recorded in his patients are very similar to the picture that we see nowadays although many people with multiple infarct dementia are into their seventies and eighties.
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