Lesson of the month: Cerebral amyloid angiopathy masquerading as recurrent transient ischaemia attacks in an older adult.

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is a common cause of lobar cerebral haemorrhage in elderly populations, which can present as transient focal neurological episodes (TFNEs) or sometimes known as 'amyloid spells'. CAA-TFNE poses a common diagnostic challenge to physicians as it can be difficult to distinguish from transient ischaemic attacks or other transient neurologic syndromes. Prompt recognition of CAA is crucial as it heralds a high risk of intracerebral haemorrhage and to avoid unnecessary investigation with inappropriate long-term prevention treatment.

Decreasing referrals to transient ischaemic attack clinics during the COVID-19 outbreak: results from a multicentre cross-sectional survey.

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic is having major implications for stroke care with a documented significant fall in hospital acute stroke admissions. We investigated whether COVID-19 has resulted in a decreased number of referrals to the transient ischaemic attack (TIA) clinics across the North West London region.

Setting And Design: All the TIA clinical leads of the North West London region received an invitation by email to participate in an online survey in May 2020.