No. It just means he hasn’t had a stroke. Strokes and vascular dementia often go hand in hand because the mechanism is the same - arterial obstruction. Alzheimer’s disease has a totally different mechanism. If your husband is being properly assessed the MRI would be one part of eliminating possible causes of his symptoms. Your doctor should be able to explain to you the process that is being undertaken, where MRI sits in it, what is still to come and when and how diagnostic conclusions may be reached. If he/she can’t or won’t do that, get a new one because this is a long and hard road and having a good doctor on board is one element of making it bearable. S.

My husband had CT, MRI, and SPECT scan. There was evidence of an old stroke. He was driving and walking the dog 7 months ago. Now he needs a walker, he’s incontinent, and his memory is bad. I was told by 3 doctors that a neuropsych exam is the best to see what is up. We did that and diagnosis was vascular dementia. The testing takes all day but it was worth it.

Pet scan is the only for sure thing.

I think we were very fortunate in the GP who guided Jackie’s diagnosis. I hope that you may be as well cared for.

Thank you SteveNuttall, that answers my question for now, until I see the doctor the first week of July. I have other appointments also set up in July.