Contrast the pathological processes between inflammatory demyelinating white matter disease
| Vascular demyelinating WMD | Inflammatory demyelinating WMD | |
| Causes | Ischaemic or haemorrhagic stroke | MS, NMOSD |
| CSVD including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, migraine, CAA, CADASIL, Susac syndrome and others | Vasculopathy, including SLE, sarcoidosis, Behcet disease, Sjögren syndrome | |
| Pathological process | Various aetiologies affecting the small arteries, arterioles, venules and capillaries of the brain, leading to endothelial dysfunction, BBB damage and secondary destruction of normal myelin | BBB damage and robust inflammatory infiltration combined with demyelination, leading to secondary destruction of normal myelin |
BBB, blood-brain barrier; CAA, cerebral amyloid angiopathy; CADASIL, cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy; CSVD, cerebral small vessel disease; MS, multiple sclerosis; NMOSD, neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders; SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus.