1/4. Familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (ATTR Val30Met) with widespread cerebral amyloid angiopathy and lethal cerebral hemorrhage.We report an autopsy case of familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP) with cerebral hemorrhage. A 38-year-old woman with a typical FAP pedigree started developing severe diarrhea and sensori-motor polyneuropathy at the age of 28 years; autonomic nervous system, heart and renal dysfunction manifested themselves in the following years. Genetic analysis revealed a single amino acid substitution at codon 30 of transthyretin (ATTR Val30Met). Ten years after her initial symptoms, the patient died of a sudden convulsive attack and respiratory failure. autopsy revealed lethal cerebral hemorrhages and uremic lungs. Histochemical and immunohistochemical analyses revealed TTR-derived amyloid protein in every tissue examined, particularly in glomeruli and peripheral vessels. Severe meningo-cerebrovascular amyloidosis was also detected. Because uremia causes oxidative damage to the vascular system and amyloid formation is closely associated with oxidative stress, it is possible that uremic endothelial damage facilitated an unusual cerebral amyloid deposition. In typical FAP (ATTR Val30Met), cerebral amyloid angiopathy does not usually have clinical manifestations. However, cerebral amyloid angiopathy should be considered to explain FAP symptoms when some risk factors such as uremic vascular damage are accompanying features.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = vessel (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/4. Familial Sneddon's syndrome.A syndrome associating livedo reticularis (LR) with Cerebrovascular disease (CVD) was described, in 1965, by Sneddon. It occurs sporadically, but a few familial cases of Sneddon's syndrome (SS) have been reported, like these 3 cases that represent one of the largest number among siblings. We studied three male brothers, aged 28, 37 and 42 years, with CVD (ischaemic stroke in 2 patients and cerebral haemorrhages in the third) and their sister with no CVD. All patients presented with long lasting livedo reticularis, extending beyond the lower limbs. skin biopsy on the centre of the reticular pattern showed, only in the second patient, partial endothelium detachment in dermo-hypodermic blood vessels. The males also had accesses of Livedoid vasculitis (LV), in which a skin biopsy showed obliteration of several upper dermal vessels with hialin thrombi and a very scarce inflammatory infiltrate. Complementary studies, with an extensive investigation on pro-coagulation/pro-thrombotic features including antiphospholipid antibodies, were repeatedly negative. Their non-consanguineous parents were not affected, but among these kindred of 9 individuals, apart from the 4 patients reported above, LR and LV were present in two other brothers and also in an aunt and uncle, suggesting autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance, with incomplete penetrance. The relationship between Sneddon's syndrome and Antiphospholipid Antibody syndrome is controversial. The present cases, having repeatedly negative antiphospholipid antibodies, support the classification of Sneddon's syndrome as an independent nosological entity.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 2keywords = vessel (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/4. Lipoid proteinosis in two siblings: a report from india.Lipoid proteinosis is an autosomally recessive genodermatosis characterized by widespread deposition of eosinophilic hyaline-like material in the skin, mucous membranes, and other internal organs. Occurrence of lipoid proteinosis in siblings is very rare. We report two siblings from the Indian subcontinent with the classical features of lipoid proteinosis. Both the siblings had had hoarseness of voice and spontaneous vesicular eruptions healing with atrophic scars since their early childhood. They had diffuse waxy thickening of the skin along with beaded papules along the eyelid margin. The tongue was also infiltrated. skin biopsy demonstrated periodic acid Schiff (PAS) positive eosinophilic material around the blood vessels and appendages.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = vessel (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/4. Postpartum cerebellar infarction and haemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, low platelet (HELLP) syndrome.pregnancy is considered to be a hypercoagulable state per se with an increased risk for cerebrovascular events, however cerebellar infarction has been rarely described in pregnant women. A nulliparous pre-eclamptic woman at 25 weeks' gestation was submitted to an echocardiographic exam that showed an impaired cardiac structure and function. After 2 h, the patient underwent caesarean section for diagnosis of haemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, low platelet (HELLP) syndrome. Afterwards her platelet count raised, and eight days later she developed nystagmus, ataxia, dysmetria and motor deficit in the right limbs and sensory impairment in the right side of the face and in the left limbs. Cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated a right cerebellar and median posterior bulbar infarction. Colour-coded sonography of cerebral vessels showed an occlusion of the right vertebral artery. Coagulation pattern analysis evidenced double heterozygosis of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene and single mutation of the prothrombin gene. This case report gives evidence of the importance of considering the different risk factors involved in stroke occurrence during pregnancy.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = vessel (Clic here for more details about this article) |