Outpatient management of patients with dyscirculatory encephalopathy

There is outpatient hyperdiagnosis of dyscirculatory encephalopathy (DE) frequently masked by other diseases. Objective: to improve the differential diagnosis of DE on the basis of a comprehensive patient examination, including neuropsychological testing. Patients and methods. Fifty patients, including 10 men and 40 women, aged 45 to 75 years (mean age 68.8±9.0 years), who had been followed up at the polyclinic with a diagnosis of DE for an average of 1.5 years, were examined. All the patients underwent evaluations of cognitive functions and emotional status and otoneurological examination (in case of headache); a psychiatrist consulted patients with anxiety and/or depressive disorders. Results and discussion. Only 9 (18%) patients were found to have vascular cognitive impairments (CIs) and signs of cerebrovascular lesions, as shown by neuroimaging, which may be regarded as DE. Five (10%) patients had CIs and neuroimaging changes that were more characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) than those of DE. The remaining 36 (72%) patients were established to have other diseases (primary headache, peripheral vestibulopathy, primary anxiety and depressive disorders, etc.), in which CIs were not detected. The diagnosis and effective treatment of these diseases yielded a rapid positive result in most cases. The management of patients with DE and AD was aimed at preventing stroke and improving cognitive functions; moreover, akatinol memantine was noted to be effective in the combination therapy of both DE and AD

Differential diagnosis of dyscirculatory encephalopathy in outpatient practice

The differential diagnosis of dyscirculatory encephalopathy is one of the topical problems in Russian neurology. Forty-seven patients diagnosed with dyscirculatory encephalopathy and followed up in the polyclinic were examined. Only in 9 (19.2%) of them, the diagnosis was confirmed. Most patients were established to have other diseases, among which there were primary depressive and/or anxiety disorders (34%), primary headache (23.4), benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) (8.5%), and Alzheimer’s disease (10.6%). The paper describes patients with migraine and BPPV, in whom the detection and treatment of these diseases have yielded a positive effect. The examination of patients diagnosed with dyscirculatory encephalopathy with investigations of their cognitive and emotional functions, otoneurological examination, and psychiatric consultation (if indicated) makes it possible to identify other diseases presenting with the symptoms similar to dyscirculatory encephalopathy and to prescribe effective treatments