Motor symptoms are reported in one fifth of CADASIL patients who have attacks of migraine with aura. In contrast with the aura symptoms reported in the general population, more than half of patients have a history of atypical aura such as basilar, hémiplégie, or prolonged aura (International Headache Society criteria88). A few patients even suffer from severe attacks with unusual symptoms such as confusion, fever, meningitis or coma,89-91 exceptionally reported in migraine with aura.92, 93 Ischemic manifestations are the most frequent clinical events in CADASIL: 60% to 85% of patients have had TIAs or completed strokes.4-6, 94 They

occur at a mean age of 45 to 50 years (extreme Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical limits from 20 to 70 years).4, 5, 20, 41 Age of onset does not differ between men and women. In a recent follow-up study, Peters et al estimated the incidence rate of stroke at 10.4 per 100 person-years.59 Two thirds of them are classical lacunar syndromes: pure motor stroke, ataxic hemiparesis, pure sensory Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical stroke, sensory-motor stroke.5 Other focal neurologic Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical deficits of abrupt onset are less frequent: dysarthria, either isolated or associated with motor or sensory deficit, monoparesis, paresthesiae of one limb, isolated

ataxia, nonfluent dysphasia, hemianopia.5 Five percent to 10% of CADASIL patients experience seizures, either focal or generalized.4, 20, 95 They are usually reported in patients with a positive history of stroke. Epilepsy is usually well-controlled by current antiepileptic drugs. Other neurological manifestations have occasionally been reported in CADASIL. Parkinsonism has been diagnosed in a a few patients whose clinical presentation can mimic, in rare cases, progressive Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical supranuclear palsy96 Deafness

of acute or rapid onset has Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical been reported in a few subjects, but its exact frequency remains unknown.71 Rufa et al reported an acute unilateral visual loss secondary to a nonarteritic ischemic optic neuropathy in a single 60-year-old case who was demented, but this had occurred 33 years earlier at age 27.97 The lack of cranial nerve palsy, spinal cord disease, and symptoms of muscular origin is noteworthy in CADASIL. The exact cause of the radiculopathy reported in one case by Ragno et al remains undetermined.98 Recently, several cases belonging to Italian and selleck Chinese families with many clinical and electrophysiological signs of peripheral sensorimotor neuropathy were described.99, 100 Conclusion Neuropsychiatrie manifestations are common in CADASIL, a genetic small-vessel disease leading to “subcortical ischemic vascular dementia.” Cognitive alterations are frequent, and can be detected at the early stages of the disorder, as early as the third decade. They can remain insidious for several years, mainly involving executive functions and attention.