Cerebral Proliferative Angiopathy

Abstract

A 31-year-old male presented with transient numbness of the right hand, progressing to involve the forearm. The symptoms lasted for around 30 minutes without any associated weakness or positive motor phenomena. An evaluation in the emergency room revealed no focal deficits.Acomputer tomogram (CT) scan performed in the emergency room suggested a few abnormal vascular structures in relation to the left hemisphere, with no evidence of hemorrhage. The patient was referred for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and conventional angiography.The MRI showed a diffuse network of densely enhancing vascular spaces involving the left middle cerebral artery (MCA) and anterior cerebral artery (ACA) territories without a clear nidus or abnormal parenchymal signal change (Figure 1). There was no involvement of the basal ganglia or thalami. Given the size and extent of the abnormality, there was a relative paucity of draining vessels, which were only moderately enlarged.