Autopsy study of incidence and distribution of cerebral amyloid angiopathy in Hisayama, Japan.

Abstract

The incidence of cerebral amyloid angiopathy in a general population was evaluated in brains of 400 consecutive autopsies of residents of Hisayama, Japan (November 1971-October 1983). Six samples taken from frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, occipital lobe, hippocampus, and basal ganglia of the same side of each brain were stained with both hematoxylin and eosin and Congo red. The specimens were surveyed microscopically with polarized light for deposition of amyloid in the vascular wall. In 26 cases with brain hemorrhage, the region surrounding the hemorrhagic sites was further examined to study the probable causal relation between cerebral amyloid angiopathy and brain hemorrhage. Cerebral amyloid angiopathy was found in 40 of 218 men (18.3%) and 51 of 182 women (28.0%). The incidence increased with age in both sexes. The frontal lobe was most frequently affected (66 cases), followed by parietal lobe (65), occipital lobe (49), temporal lobe (44), and hippocampus (32); the putamen was never affected. The incidence of cerebral amyloid angiopathy did not correlate with blood pressure or with the severity of cerebral atherosclerosis. Among the 26 cases in which there was brain hemorrhage, only one cerebellar hemorrhage, in an 85-year-old man, was attributed to cerebral amyloid angiopathy. This case showed four microaneurysms in vessels, with cerebral amyloid angiopathy surrounding the hemorrhagic site. Thirty similar lesions were observed in eight cases without brain hemorrhage. Cerebral amyloid angiopathy may play an etiologic role in the development of brain hemorrhage through formation of angionecrosis and microaneurysm.