Selective Anterior Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy and Frontal Lobe Dementia: A Clinicopathologic Correlation

Abstract

A 77 year old white male with a frontal lobe type of dementia was found to have at autopsy extensive deposition of amyloid in the leptomeningeal blood vessels of the frontal lobe, and to a much lesser degree in the parietal lobe and hippocampus. The temporal and occipital lobes where almost free of amyloid. Parenchymal blood vessels were much less affected. Other striking features included cortical gliosis in the frontal lobe, and the scarcity of amyloid plaques. Neurofibrillary tangles were very rarely encountered in the hippocampus. The dementia could not be fully explained on the basis of Alzheimer's disease, alcohol-related damages or cerebral infarctions. The selective frontal amyloid angiopathy and gliosis may have been related to the dementia.

Keywords:

• Dementia
• cerebral amyloid angiopathy