Cerebral amyloid angiopathy-related cognitive impairment: The search for a specific neuropsychological pattern.

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy-related cognitive impairment: The search for a specific neuropsychological pattern. Rev Neurol (Paris). 2017 Oct 06;: Authors: Planton M, Raposo N, Albucher JF, Pariente J Abstract Cerebral amyloid angiopathy is diagnosed in stroke units after lobar intracerebral hemorrhage. CAA can also be diagnosed in memory clinics when patients are referred for cognitive impairment assessment, and may be a reason for admission to emergency or neurology departments because of rapidly progressive cognitive or neurological decline, or a transient focal neurological episode. CAA may even be observed in older community-dwelling individuals. Neuropsychological impairment in CAA has been described over the past 20 years. The symptoms most commonly reported are perceptual speed, episodic memory, semantic memory, attention and executive function, and global cognitive impairments. Psychiatric symptoms, such as personality changes, behavioral disturbances and depression, have been more recently described. CAA is also a risk factor for the development of dementia, and its relationship with Alzheimer's disease has been demonstrated in post-mortem studies. Yet, despite the increase in literature on CAA-related cognitive and psychiatric symptoms, the specific characteristics of symptoms in CAA are difficult to assess because of the substantial prevalence of comorbidities such as small vessel disease due to high blood pressure, Lewy b...
Source: Revue Neurologique - Category: Neurology Tags: Rev Neurol (Paris) Source Type: research