Immunohistochemically identifiable tissue plasminogen activator in cavernous angioma: mechanism for re-hemorrhage and lesion growth.

The mechanisms governing growth of cavernous angiomas of the brain and their propensity to hemorrhage remain unknown. Repetitive hemorrhage with neovascularization during clot organization and maturation of new vessels into a larger cavernous angioma has been hypothesized as one mechanism. This hypothesis is largely based on the histopathological similarity between the organizing clot surrounding cavernous malformations and the organizing phase of the membranes surrounding chronic subdural hematoma. The presence of tissue plasminogen activator (TPA) in the vascular endothelium of vessels contained within chronic subdural membranes has been used to argue that an intrinsic thrombolytic process is responsible, in part, for rebleeding within chronic subdural cavities. By analogy, we sought to identify whether TPA is located in tissues in and around cavernous angiomas. Cavernous malformations, surgically removed and pathologically confirmed by standard staining techniques, were immunohistochemically stained for TPA. Eleven of thirteen lesions (85%) studied contained vascular endothelial cells which stained for TPA. Of the 2 lesions which did not contain TPA, 1 was non-hemorrhagic and calcified; 7 of 11 (64%) lesions which contained TPA presented clinically with hemorrhage. These data support the hypothesis that a local thrombolytic process may be responsible for the frequent hemorrhagic nature of cavernous angiomas. Alternatively, since local elaboration of TPA is common to both chronic subdural membranes and cavernous angiomas, this finding may represent a more global characteristic of fibrinolytic homeostasis in cerebral tissues.