ABSTRACT
Objective To study the clinical feature of 26 cases which were diagnosed pathologically as cerebral amyloid angiopathy ( CAA ) and to improve the level of diagnosis.Methods The clinical characteristics of the 26 cases with CAA in our hospital from 1983 to 1999 were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed,including previous history,clinical manifestation,and laboratory examination.Results Of the 26 CAA patients,there were 17 men and 9 women with age ranging from 45 to 78 years.Eight patients (30.7％ ) had the history of hypertension; 6 cases (23.1％ ) suffered from diabetes; 2 patients(7.6％ ) were taking anticoagulant or antiplatelet agents in whom serious CAA and multiple hemorrhages were histopathologically confirmed by autopsy.There were 20 cases diagnosed as cerebral hemorrhage,including 2 patients with single lobe hemorrhage,8 patients with multiple lobe hemorrhage,5 patients with putamen hemorrhage,2 patients with cerebral ganglion hemorrhage,2 patients with cerebellar hemorrhage,and 1 patient with brain stem hemorrhage.Of the 26 CAA patients,there were 2 patients with subaracchnoid hemorrhage,1 patient with hemorrhagic cerebral infarction,1 patient with basal ganglia infarction,1 patient with basilar artery occlusion,1 patient with subdural hematoma.The clinical manifestation of the 20 cases diagnosed as cerebral hemorrhage included headache,limb palsy,coma,and hyperspasmia.Conclusions CAA always begin as cerebrovascular disease symptoms with or without hypertension.The most common manifestation of CAA is lobe hemorrhage,while the CAA-related hemorrhage seldom occurs in basal ganglia,cerebellum and brainstem.CAA can also manifest cerebral infarction and subarachnoid hemorrhage.Anticoagulant (warfarin) or antiplatelet agents (aspirin) maybe a contributing factor for CAA-related hemorrhage.