John C. Morris, M.D., associate professor of neurology and assistant professor of pathology, has received a five-year $1.5 million grant to study the dementia that can follow stroke. The grant comes from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health.
Stroke is a major contributor to dementia, second only to Alzheimer's disease. "But few studies have studied it separately from Alzheimer's disease, so there is a great deal of confusion," said Morris, co-director of Washington University's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center.
Stroke occurs when a blood vessel becomes blocked or bursts, preventing oxygen and nutrients from reaching a region of brain tissue. Death of such tissue can hamper cognitive function, leading to dementia.
The researchers will determine whether the clinical symptoms of vascular dementia are the same as those that typify Alzheimer's disease. They also will identify the areas of the brain in which damage can lead to dementia and study whether dementia arises suddenly after stroke or develops gradually before or after.
The study will involve 270 men and women at risk for stroke because of high blood pressure or constricted carotid arteries. The subjects will come from studies already under way at the School of Medicine.
Once a year, participants will receive cognitive tests to assess how well different regions of their brains are functioning. Magnetic resonance imaging will detect any structural damage, and positron emission tomography will reveal whether the usual parts of the brain become active during certain tasks.
-- Linda Sage
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