title: Neuropsychological Effects of Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy.
abstract: Cerebral amyloid angiopathy is a condition of the cerebral arterioles and to a lesser extent capillaries and veins, wherein beta-amyloid is deposited. In arterioles, this preferentially targets vascular smooth muscle cells and in the later stages undermines the stability of the vessel. This condition is frequently comorbid with Alzheimer's disease and its role in cognitive impairment and dementia is a topic of considerable recent research. This article reviews recent literature which confirms that CAA independently contributes to cognitive impairment by potentiating the neurodegeneration of Alzheimer's disease, by predisposing to microhemorrhagic and microischemic injury to the brain parenchyma, and by interfering with the autoregulation of CNS blood flow. In this review, we discuss the clinical presentation of cerebral amyloid angiopathy, with a focus on the neuropsychological manifestations of this vasculopathy.
authors.affiliation: Dept of Neurology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, 1301 Medical Center Dr, TVC Neurology Suite, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schrag
authors.affiliation: Dept of Neurology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, 1301 Medical Center Dr, TVC Neurology Suite, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA. howard.kirshner@vanaderbilt.edu.
authors.forename: Howard
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kirshner
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000503:physiopathology; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology; D016657:Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology; D003071:Cognition; D003704:Dementia; D006706:Homeostasis; D006801:Humans
keywords: Autoregulation; Azheimer’s disease; Cerebral amyloid angiopathy; Cognition; Complement; Microhemorrhages