Question:
How is Multi-Infarct Dementia diagnosed?

Is it always impaired memory function, or can the first symptoms be that of a minor stroke (i.e. blackout) where memory seems, as yet, unaffected?

Can anyone give suggestions???

Answer: The most specific part of the evaluation would be the CT or MRI scan. For someone to be demented due to multiple strokes, one should be able to see a lot of the brain affected by infarction.

If memory is not affected at all, the term dementia doesn't make sense. Patients can have trouble thinking in specific ways due to strokes, such as with speech or spatial abilities, but that's not dementia. Those are isolated cognitive deficits, not a widespread loss of cognitive abilities as is the case with dementia. I'm sure it's an arbitrary distinction sometimes when a patient has some cognitive deficits due to strokes, but not yet global enough deficits to call it dementia. Either way the patient has a lot of their brain damaged by infarctions and experiences the consequences of that.

I am a retired neurologist.