Dementia in hereditary cerebral hemorrhage with amyloidosis-Dutch type
J. Haan, J. B. Lanser, I. Zijderveld, I. G. van der Does and R. A. Roos
Department of neurology, University Hospital, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Sixteen patients with hereditary cerebral hemorrhage with amyloidosis-Dutch
type were examined neuropsychologically. Abnormalities were found in all
patients, and dementia was present in 12 of them. Three patients were
tested twice at an interval of some years. All three exhibited a
progressive intellectual deterioration and memory disturbance; in two of
them there was no evidence of intercurrent strokes. Cerebral amyloid
angiopathy can lead to dementia because it produces multiple focal cerebral
lesions, but a chronic ischemic or metabolic effect on brain parenchyma may
play a contributing role.