Final answer:
Multi-infarct dementia usually presents with abrupt memory loss, confusion, and difficulty in planning and execution due to multiple strokes causing brain damage. The progression is stepwise and related to the areas affected by infarcts, contrasting Alzheimer's gradual cognitive decline.
Step-by-step explanation:
Multi-infarct dementia typically presents with symptoms including abrupt memory loss, confusion about time or place, and difficulty with tasks requiring planning and execution.
Multi-infarct dementia, also known as vascular dementia, arises from cerebrovascular disease where multiple, often small, ischemic strokes lead to cumulative brain damage. Patients may experience disruptive memory loss, confusion about time or place, variable levels of consciousness, difficulty with planning and executing tasks, and impairments in judgment. Additionally, mood and personality changes are commonly observed. The onset is typically sudden, following a stroke, and the course of the dementia is stepwise, with the potential for partial recovery between episodes of acute worsening.
Distinguishing it from Alzheimer's disease (AD) which is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that worsens over time, multi-infarct dementia presents with a more fluctuating and unpredictable pattern. Unlike AD, which shows gradual cognitive decline, multi-infarct dementia symptoms often correlate with the location and severity of strokes. The changes in cognitive functioning in multi-infarct dementia can be sporadic and relate closely to the areas of the brain that are affected by each infarct.