Microscopic Anatomy of Hippocampus and Frontal Cortex in a Vascular Dementia Cadaver

In the department of anatomy, we received a 76-year-old male cadaver, the body donor of which was earlier diagnosed as a case of vascular dementia (VaD). The clinical records were studied, and the neuroimaging of this patient, performed a few months before the death, by T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging scans revealed lacunar infarcts, brain atrophy changes in the cerebral cortex, and white matter lesions. It is believed that microbleeds and microinfarcts are the surrogate manifestations of aging and cerebrovascular pathologies. Alterations of the small cerebral vessels affect the subcortical white matter’s microcirculation and eventually manifest as VaD and cognitive dysfunction. A 76-year-old male cadaver had a previous diagnosis of VaD. Previous reports confirmed moderate neuropsychiatry inventory score, raised homocysteine levels, decreased Vitamin B12 and folate levels, which might have exacerbated the progression of the pathogenesis of VaD, and cognitive impairment. For academic interest, the microscopy of the frontal cortex and hippocampus of this embalmed cadaver was studied by hematoxylin and eosin staining, which revealed microinfarcts, microbleeds, and white matter lesions. We believe that the current case report is enlightening to the clinical anatomists, radiologists, neurologists, and neurosurgeons. The only limitation is postembalming observations of microbleeds in the hippocampus and frontal cortex.