Summary

Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is an early-onset genetic form of subcortical ischemic vascular dementia that resembles sporadic small-vessel disease similar to VaD. The underlying pathology of CADASIL is progressive degeneration of the smooth muscle cells in blood vessels that can lead to deficits in executive functioning and cognitive processing speed. This article discusses data from a study evaluating the efficacy and safety of donepezil for patients with CADASIL.