International Psychogeriatrics
Volume 15, Supplement 1 - 2003
Vascular Dementia: A Historical Background GUSTAVO ROMÁN
ABSTRACT. The history of vascular dementia can be traced back to cases of dementia postapoplexy
described by Thomas Willis in 1672. During most of the 18th and early 19th century, “brain
congestion” (due in all likelihood to the effects of untreated hypertension) was the most
frequent diagnosis for conditions ranging from stroke to anxiety and to cognitive decline, and
bloodletting became the commonplace therapy. The modern history of vascular dementia began in
1894 with the contributions of Otto Binswanger and Alois Alzheimer, who separated vascular
dementia from dementia paralytica caused by neurosyphilis. In the 1960s, the seminal
neuropathological and clinical studies of the New Castle school in England inaugurated the
modern era of vascular dementia.
