Congophilic angiopathy and cerebral hemorrhage.

All the cases of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage that were autopsied between 1965 and 1976 at at Kuakini Hospital, Hawaii, were analyzed to determine the frequency of coexistent cerebral congophilic angiopathy. Seven of 75 cases (9.3%) were confirmed to have deposition of amyloid in the intracerebral vessels by means of polarized light microscopy and electron microscopy. The cerebral congophilic angiopathy was found to have predilection for aged patients and women (ratio of 6:1). Diabetes mellitus, hypertension, atherosclerosis, systemic amyloidosis, and paraproteinemia did not appear to be associated with this change. There is, however, a strong correlation between classic as well as compact senile plaques and this vascular lesion.