Cerebral amyloid angiopathy means amyloid-beta protein deposited in the walls of small cortical and leptomeningeal vessels, the vessels of the brain surface and of the membranes covering it. It is the most common cause of lobar intracerebral haemorrhage in older adults.
The defining contrast is location: bleeding in lobar cortical territories, the outer parts of the cerebral lobes, points toward amyloid angiopathy, while bleeding in deep structures such as the basal ganglia points toward hypertensive small-vessel disease. That distinction organises the whole family.
Choose a route through the topic
The useful sequence is mechanism first, then the clinical picture, then diagnosis and treatment. Epidemiology frames who is affected, the inflammation note covers the treatable exception, and prognosis follows a first bleed. A reader with one question can start at the matching note:
- Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy Pathophysiology explains where amyloid deposits and why the weakened wall bleeds in lobar territories.
- Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy Clinical Presentation covers the bleeding and non-bleeding features that point toward the disease in an older adult.
- Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy Diagnosis shows how blood-sensitive MRI and the Boston criteria establish the diagnosis and separate it from deep hypertensive bleeding.
- Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy Treatment explains why management centres on preventing the next haemorrhage rather than removing amyloid.
- Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy Epidemiology describes how common the disease is with age, who carries the highest risk, and the rare hereditary forms.
- Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy Related Inflammation and ABRA covers the treatable inflammatory form and how its subacute course differs from sudden bleeding.
- Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy Prognosis follows a first lobar haemorrhage through recurrence, survival, and cognition.