Grant: Operating Grant

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy is a brain disease caused by build up of a toxic protein, called beta-amyloid, in brain blood vessels. This disease causes about 20% of all bleeding strokes and about 7% of all dementia. However, doctors have trouble recognizing this disease and determining how bad it is. There are no treatments for this disease, so it is important to gain a better understanding of how it affects the brain in order to develop new treatments. In this project we propose to study ways in which the brain is damaged by cerebral amyloid angiopathy. We will study how this disease makes it harder for blood vessels to react normally. We will see whether iron builds up in the brain. We will see whether we can measure inflammation in patients with this disease. And we will see whether all of these things are associated with shrinkage of the brain and risk for memory problems.