[Cerebral amyloid angiopathy].

Abstract

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy affects the cerebral vasculature selectively, and there is no systemic amyloidosis. Amyloid is deposited in small and medium-sized vessels of the cortex and leptomeninges. Cerebral amyloid angiopathy is a common cause of spontaneous lobar haemorrhage in elderly patients. However, cerebral amyloid angiopathy may have atypical clinical and radiological presentations. We report on five patients (three males and two females, aged 43-77 years) with histologically verified cerebral amyloid angiopathy. One patient experienced an acute headache attack and classical lobar haemorrhage. The other patients had various neurological symptoms and signs, such as seizure, disturbed vision, pareses, aphasia, and dementia that were initially diagnosed as cerebral infarction or tumour. Two patients with cerebral amyloid angiopathy and granulomatous angiitis responded to immunosuppressive treatment.