Sonography of the cervical vessels. Value in the differential diagnosis of dementia syndromes

: Some dementias in the elderly are due to vascular diseases in particular arteriosclerosis of cerebral arteries. The question whether US examination of the extracranial cerebral supply vessels is a reliable means of recognizing this form of dementia has been investigated in patients with the clinical diagnosis of vascular dementia. Using direct/indirect Doppler and real-time techniques, we were able to detect pathological lesions in the extracranial supply vessels in only one-third of these patients. Thus, US examination of the vessels in the neck would appear to be of only limited differential diagnostic value.