[Familial cavernous angioma. Report in 3 generations]

Cavernous angioma is a vascular malformation that affect 0.5 to 0.7% of the population making up 8 to 15% of cerebrovascular malformations. It is the second vascular malformation in frequency of the central nervous system, supplanted only by classic arteriovenous malformation. It may occur in two forms: a sporadic form characterized by isolated lesions: and a familial form characterized by multiple lesions with an autosomal dominant mode of inheritance with high penetrance and varied expressivity in the proportion M1:F1. Symptoms related to cavernous angioma are seizures, headache or progressive neurologic deficit. The authors present a Chinese family with familial cavernous angioma. Manifestations of the disease occurred in three generations affecting only females. Clinical, neuroimage, pathological, natural course and genetical aspects of the disease are discussed.