Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is a recently identified cause of stroke and vascular dementia. It is a condition of mid-adulthood due to mutations of Notch 3 gene on chromosome 19. Whereas the disease was first reported in European families, since 1993 CADASIL has been observed in American, African and Asiatic pedigrees, suggesting that today, the disease probably still remains largely underdiagnosed. The pathological data first dealt with the white matter and the basal ganglia showing the features observed in Binswanger's subcortical arteriopathic encephalopathy; over the past few years, CADASIL has become appreciated as a systemic vascular disease with specific features. Here we have reviewed the literature from 1977 to the present for pathologically and genetically verified cases accompanied by relatively complete clinical descriptions so as to give the pathological features associated with this condition a clearer definition. The review will focus mainly on pathological studies and the pathophysiological mechanisms most likely to be involved in CADASIL.