Cerebral amyloid angiopathy

What it means

Amyloid deposition in the walls of leptomeningeal and cortical arteries, arterioles, and less often capillaries and veins of the central nervous system.

Vascular beta-amyloid deposition in the walls of small to medium-sized, blood vessels (mostly arterial) of the central nervous system. Cerebral amyloid angiopathy mostly occurs in the sporadic form in the elderly, while rare familial forms occur in younger patients and are generally lead to more severe clinical manifestations. Extracellular deposition of the amyloid protein in the brain is associated with neurologic and physiological disease progression.

Rare diseases that can present with this5

The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.

Part of the broader category