Influence of galantamine on vasomotor reactivity in Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia due to cerebral microangiopathy.

Background And Purpose: Recent reports suggest that vascular factors play a crucial role in the development and progression of Alzheimer's disease. We aimed to assess vasomotor reactivity in patients with Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia due to microangiopathy using transcranial Doppler sonography and near-infrared spectroscopy during a CO(2) exposition task.

Methods: The normalized CO(2) reactivity assessed at the middle cerebral artery and the oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin of the frontal cortex were obtained.