Cerebral massive hemorrhage in congophilic angiopathy and its medicolegal significance

The principles of a special type of senile cerebromeningeal angiopathy, these days usually named “congophilic angiopathy”, are demonstrated on the basis of eight cases, complicated by spontaneous massive intracranial hemorrhages in seven and late traumatic hemorrhage in one of them. The occurrence of massive hemorrhages associated with congophilic angiopathy has until now only rarely been reported. The medicolegal significance of this vascular disease is emphasized by the eighth, traumatic, case, which became forensically relevant; the late massive hemorrhage had to be regarded as significantly favoured by amyloid angionecrosis, which is the main feature of congophilic angiopathy.