[Clinical diagnosis of Biswanger's disease]

Fifty patients with periventricular hypodense lesions in cerebral CAT (leucoaraiosis) were included in a prospective study. All of them were intensively evaluated considering both the clinical and neuropsychological aspects. Fifteen of these patients were diagnosed of dementia following the criteria proposed by Bennett et al for Binswanger's disease. The group of patients with dementia was compared with the rest of patients with leucoaraiosis from the radiological, semiological and neuropsychological aspects; the incidence of vascular risk factors and the score obtained in the Ischemic Scale were also compared. We found that the patients with dementia have, in the CAT study, more severe periventricular lesions than the rest of patients. We have not found any significative differences in the incidence of vascular risk factors. Deambulation disorders, constructive apraxia and visual-perceptive disorders were the symptoms more strongly related with dementia, even tough only the latter two showed this relationship in the statistical multivariant analysis. Differences in the score of test and scales were highly significant. We think that Bennett's criteria are of great value for the clinical diagnosis of Binswanger's disease.