Infratentorial Superficial Siderosis
Superficial siderosis of the central nervous system is an ultra-rare disorder with an incidence currently estimated to be 1 in one million individuals. While superficial siderosis of the central nervous system affects all races and age groups, males are affected three times more often than females. Very recently an eight-month old baby was diagnosed.
The development of Infratentorial superficial siderosis may often be traced to a single triggering event. It might have been as long as 30 years past depending on the nature of your bleed; brain bleeds or spinal surgery dural tears resulting in pseudomeningoceles, head injury or traumatic accident. Other known causes include root avulsions, epidural cyst removal, intradural cranial surgery, brain tumors, vascular abnormalities, stroke, fragile capillary regrowth after brain surgery, or nerve damage (brachial plexus injury). Any event which results in long-term chronic bleeding into your central nervous system.
In the U.S., the estimated case count has now risen past 300 patients. This almost doubles the number of confirmed diagnosis from 2014. Two important milestones have contributed to this increase in identifiying patients; improved MRI techniques and increased awareness of the disorder by neuroradiologists and audiologists.
The actual occurrence of superficial siderosis of the central nervous system is believed to affect a far greater population than is currently diagnosed.
Cortical Superficial Siderosis
Cortical superficial siderosis is almost but not always diagnosed in older patients. The bleed source contributing to cSS hemosiderin development has been linked to age-related cerebral small vessel disorder, or micro-bleeds on the surface of the brain. Sporadic cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is a common cerebral small vessel disease and an identified contributor to cognitive dysfunction in the elderly. Current opinion is cSS is formed from recurring blood leaking episodes from brittle CAA-affected vessels.