Table 1. Key features of vascular dementia (VaD) according to the criteria of ADDTC (Alzheimer's Disease Diagnostic and Treatment Centers) and NIND-AIREN (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke-Association Internationale pour la Recherche et l'Enseignement en Neurosciences). CT, computed tomography; CVD, cerebrovascular disease; MRI, magnetic resonance imaging; Tl, thallium. Adapted from ref 4: Amar K, Wilcock G, Scott M. The diagnosis of vascular dementia in the light of the new criteria. Age Ageing. 1996;25:51-55.

Key features of VaD	ADDTC Criteria4	NINDS-AIREN Criteria5
Dementia definition	Global deterioration from previous level of function sufficient to interfere with the patient's life	Impairment of memory plus at least two other areas of cognitive domains (not due to the physical effects of stroke alone) sufficient to interfere with the patient's life
Probable VaD	Requires all of the following:	Requires all of the following:
	1. Dementia	1. Dementia
	2. Evidence of two or more strokes by	2. CVD; focal signs on examination + evidence of relevant
	history, neurological signs, and/or	CVD by brain imaging (CT/MRI)
	neuroimaging, or a single stroke with a	3. Relationship between the above two disorders,
	clear temporal relationship to the	manifested by one or more of the following:
	onset of dementia	• dementia onset within 3 months of a stroke
	3. Evidence of at least one infarct	• abrupt deterioration in cognitive functions,
	outside the cerebellum by CT or Tl-weighted MRI	or fluctuating stepwise course
Possible	1. Dementia and	May be made in the presence of dementia and focal
	2. One or more of the following:	neurological signs in patients with:
	• History or evidence of a single stroke	1 . No evidence of CVD on neuroimaging; or
	without a clear temporal relationship	2. In the absence of clear temporal relationship between
	to dementia onset, or	stroke and dementia; or
	• Binswanger's disease that includes all the following:	3. In patients with subtle onset and variable course of cognitive deficit and evidence of CVD
	(i) early onset of urinary incontinence or gait disturbance;
	(ii) vascular risk factors;
	(iii) extensive white matter changes on neuroimaging