[Binswanger disease: a common type of vascular dementia]. / Enfermedad de Binswanger: un tipo frecuente de demencia vascular.

OBJECTIVE: This document intends to review the main features of Binswanger's disease and its differential diagnosis with other vascular pathologies of the white matter. DEVELOPMENT: Nowadays, the raise of the elderly group of population has led to a remarkable increase in dementia's prevalence, therefore it becomes necessary to study deeply vascular dementias, the second most common kind of dementia behind Alzheimer's disease. The detection of Binswanger's disease has increased due to the progress of neuroimaging techniques, that allow to identify ischemic lesions situated in the cerebral white matter and the existence of multiple lacunar infarcts. This clinical entity represents the most frequent type of subcortical dementia, although controversy still remains about its pathogeny, ethiology, and nosologic limits. CONCLUSIONS: The search for unified criteria is the first step in the microangiopathic subcortical dementia's field to achieve valuable treatment strategies.

[Fibromuscular dysplasia of the cervicocephalic arteries. Report of two cases and review of the literature (author's transl)]. / Displasia fibromuscular de arterias cérvico-cefálicas. Presentación de dos casos y revisión de la literatura.

Two typical cases of fibromuscular dysplasia of the cervicocephalic arteries in two women of 61 and 48 years of age are reported. The angiograms revealed bilateral affectation of the internal carotid artery and of the right vertebral artery in one case, and of both vertebral and renal arteries in the other. The patients presented neurological symptoms corresponding to ischemia of the vertebro-basilar territory. The first case was treated with anti-platelet aggregates with positive results. An extensive review of 70 similar published cases is presented. Several characteristics are studied such as: age, sex, localization, symptoms, clinical course and treatment. The quantitative evaluation of these factors agrees with those of other reviews carried out by some other authors. Fibromuscular dysplasia is an arteriopathy of unknown etiology which has a predominant incidence among middle age females (83 percent approximately). The disease usually involves the renal arteries and the cervical segment (adjacent to C1-C2 interspace) of the carotid arteries. There was an association with single or multiple intracranial aneurisms in 22.86 percent of the cases. Vertebral arteries were affected in 28.57 percent of the cases, although vertebral angiograms were not performed in 35.7 percent of them. Transient episodes of cerebral ischemia is the most frequent clinical manifestation (42.85 percent of the cases.).