Intracranial hemorrhage

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Intracranial hemorrhage
Intracerebral hemorrage (CT scan).jpg
Axial CT scan of a spontaneous intracranial hemorrhage
Specialty Emergency medicine   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Symptoms Same symptoms as ischemic stroke, but unconsciousness, headache, nausea, stiff neck, and seizures are more often in brain hemorrhages than ischemic strokes
Complications Coma, persistent vegetative state, cardiac arrest (when bleeding is in the brain stem or is severe), death
Types Intracerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, epidural bleed, subdural bleed
Causes Stroke, head injury, ruptured aneurysm

Intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), also known as intracranial bleed, is bleeding within the skull. [1] Subtypes are intracerebral bleeds (intraventricular bleeds and intraparenchymal bleeds), subarachnoid bleeds, epidural bleeds, and subdural bleeds. [2]

Contents

Intracerebral bleeding affects 2.5 per 10,000 people each year. [1]

Signs and symptoms

Intracranial hemorrhage is a serious medical emergency because the buildup of blood within the skull can lead to increases in intracranial pressure, which can crush delicate brain tissue or limit its blood supply. Severe increases in intracranial pressure (ICP) can cause brain herniation, in which parts of the brain are squeezed past structures in the skull.[ citation needed ]

Symptoms include severe headache, nausea/vomiting, seizures, dizziness or lightheadedness or vertigo, one-sided facial drooping, one-sided numbness, weakness, tingling, or paralysis, speech problems, blindness, deafness, memory issues, attention problems, balance problems, coordination problems and decreasing level of consciousness or complete loss of consciousness. Coma and persistent vegetative state can result from intracranial hemorrhage.

Brain stem hemorrhage may cause additional symptoms such as shortness of breath, dysphagia (difficulty swallowing), chewing problems, abnormal heart rate, and irregular heartbeat. Brain stem hemorrhage can cause cardiac arrest.

Causes

Trauma is the most common cause of intracranial hemorrhage. It can cause epidural hemorrhage, subdural hemorrhage, and subarachnoid hemorrhage. Other condition such as hemorrhagic parenchymal contusion and cerebral microhemorrhages can also be caused by trauma. [3]

Non-traumatic causes of hemorrhage includes: hypertension, cerebral amyloid angiopathy, hemorrhagic conversion of ischemic infarction, cerebral aneurysms, dural arteriovenous fistulae, cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, cerebral vasculitis and mycotic aneurysm. [3]

More than half of all cases of intracranial hemorrhage are the result of hypertension.

Diagnosis

An acute bleed into a long-standing cystic mass within the brain. Arrow points to bleeding and mass. BleedintocysticmassMark.png
An acute bleed into a long-standing cystic mass within the brain. Arrow points to bleeding and mass.

CT scan (computed tomography) of the brain (without any iodinated contrast), is the initial imaging choice because of its high speed, good accessibility in hospitals, high sensitivity in detecting brain injuries or brain diseases, thus helping to triage patients in emergency department in a timely manner and urgent neurosurgical intervention can be administered. Examples of brain diseases that require urgent intervention are: large volume hemorrhage, brain herniation, and cerebral infarction. Other advantages of CT over MRI scan are ability to detect bony fractures, vascular injury, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak. It also does not need to screen for MRI safety of implants/foreign body especially for penetrating or blast injuries. [4] Moreover, CT scans have also been used to train deep learning models to automatically perform intracranial hemorrhage detection. [5] Interestingly, deep learning models have been found to reach expert-level performance. [6] [7]

However, MRI has higher sensitivity than CT scan for the detection of epidural hemorrhage, subdural hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, nonhemorrhagic cortical contusions, hemorrhagic parenchymal contusions, brainstem injuries, and white matter axonal injuries. If CT scan shows normal findings, but the subject has persistent neurological symptoms, MRI is also indicated. However, MRI safety concerns on metallic foreign bodies, limited availability, longer imaging time, high sensitivity to motion, and higher cost limits the usefulness of MRI. [4]

Swirl sign on CT scan (areas of low densities with surrounding areas of high densities) is indicative of active intracranial bleeding, high chance of death within one month, and poor subject's function in three months if the subject is still alive. [4]

When ICP is increased the heart rate may be decreased.

Traumatic

Types of intracranial hemorrhage are roughly grouped into intra-axial and extra-axial. Intra-axial hemorrhage is bleeding within the brain itself, or cerebral hemorrhage. This category includes intraparenchymal hemorrhage, or bleeding within the brain itself, and intraventricular hemorrhage, bleeding within the brain's ventricles (particularly of premature infants). Intra-axial hemorrhages are more dangerous and harder to treat than extra-axial bleeds. [8] Hemorrhagic parenchymal contusions and cerebral microhemorrhages are examples of traumatic intra-axial bleeds. [3]

Extra-axial hemorrhage, bleeding that occurs within the skull but outside of the brain tissue, falls into three subtypes: epidural hematoma, subdural hematoma, and subarachnoid hemorrhage. [3]

Hemorrhagic parenchymal contusion

This condition most commonly occurred in those with significant head movement or head impact. It is caused by injuries of small arterial or venous vessels, causing hemorrhage within the brain parenchyma, and give rise to hyperdense lesion on CT scan. MRI is more sensitive than CT scan in detecting such small hemorrhagic contusions, with the use of gradient echo sequence. [3] Contusions are more commonly seen in the brain parenchyma near base of the skull such as inferior frontal lobes and temporal lobes as a result of Coup contrecoup injury. Those with parenchymal contusion would require frequent follow-up imaging because such contusions may grow large enough to become hemorrhage and exerts significant mass effect on the brain. [3]

Cerebral microhemorrhages is a smaller form of hemorrhagic parenchymal contusion and are typically found in white matter. Such microhemorrhages are difficult to be detected on CT scan, but easily detected on gradient echo and susceptibility weighted imaging on MRI scan as hypointense susceptibility blooming. Such microhemorrhages are frequently associated with diffuse axonal injury and located near the grey-white matter junction. [3]

Epidural hemorrhage

Epidural hemorrhage (extradural hemorrhage, EDH) which occur between the dura mater (the outermost meningeal layer) and the skull, is caused by trauma. It does not cross the suture lines of the skull because the superifical dural layer is attached tightly to the skull along the suture lines. Unless rarely, fracture involves the suture lines (more common in children), then epidural hematoma may cross the suture lines. [4] As the blood accumulated in the epidural space is confined within suture lines, accumulation of additional blood will cause bulging in this space, and thus resulting in a typical "biconvex" appearance on CT scans. [3] EDH can be due to arterial or venous rupture depending on the locations. [4] Arterial injuries results in more rapidly growing hematoma when compared to venous injuries. [3] At the pterion region, middle meningeal artery is most commonly affected. When fracture is crossing areas where dural venous sinuses resides, venous hemorrhage can occur such as falx cerebri, tentorium cerebelli, and vertex (where superior sagittal sinus resides). Anterior temporal EDH is usually caused by sphenoparietal sinus. Such EDH is limited and does not require surgery because its extension is confined within the sphenosquamosal suture and the superior or inferior orbital fissures. [4] In 20 to 50% of epidural hemorrhage cases, there is a lucid interval during which the patient regains consciousness after being knocked unconscious; this is then followed by deterioration of conscious state. [9]

When the epidural hematoma is large enough, it will cause mass effect on contralateral brain which lead to midline, subfalcine (below the falx cerebri), and trans-tentorial (crossing tentorium cerebelli) herniations. This phenomenon can cause the subject to lose consciousness and eventually to death. [3] Therefore, large EDH requires emergent surgical clot evacuation. [3] Embolisation of middle meningeal artery is performed if the hemorrhage is medium or small. [4]

Subdural hemorrhage

Subdural hemorrhage (SDH) results from tearing of the bridging veins in the subdural space between the dura and arachnoid mater. It can cross the suture lines, but not across dural reflections such as falx cerebri or tentorium cerebelli. [4] Therefore, subdural hematoma always limited to one side of the brain. [3] Density of SDH reduces as it progresses from acute to chronic forms. However, areas with low density may not represent chronic SDH entirely as unclotted blood products that are due to active bleed can also give low density appearance on CT scans especially those with coagulopathy. Those with SDH that have same density with brain parenchyma may represent acute bleed such as those with anemia, arachnoid tear, and the mixing of hemorrhage and CSF. SDH usually have high or mixed densities during first two days of trauma, followed by isodensity at 11 days after trauma, and hypodensity after 14 days of trauma. Membranes with granulation tissue can rupture within SDH, and give high density appearance on CT scan. Over a prolonged period of time, calcifications can form. SDH can be treated with burr hole drainage, craniotomy or port system placement for blood clot evacuation, or middle meningeal artery embolisation. [4]

Subdural hematoma maybe less acute than epidural hematoma due to slower blood accumulation, but it still has the potential to cause brain herniation that may require surgical evacuation. [3] Clinical features depend on the site of injury and severity of injury. Patients may have a history of loss of consciousness but they recover and do not relapse. Clinical onset occurs over hours. Complications include focal neurologic deficits depending on the site of hematoma and brain injury, increased intracranial pressure leading to herniation of brain and ischemia due to reduced blood supply and seizures.[ citation needed ]

Subarachnoid hemorrhage

A subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is bleeding into the subarachnoid space—the area between the arachnoid membrane and the pia mater surrounding the brain. Trauma can also cause SAH when the arteries and veins coursing through the subarachnoid space are ruptured. It is usually located at the cerebral sulci near the vertex of the head and spare the basal cisterns on CT scan. Severe trauma can cause SAH in all parts of the brain. When the SAH volume is large, rarely it can cause cerebral infarction a few days after trauma due to arterial vasospasm. Although CT scan is performed more often than MRI to detect SAH, MRI is more sensitive than CT in this aspect. SAH shows hyperintense signal of Fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) sequence and blooming artifact on susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI). [3]

Computed tomography angiography (CT angiography) or Magnetic resonance angiography (MR angiography) should be done if fracture involves the carotid canal, because in such cases, posttraumatic vasospasm can occur, thus cutting blood supply to the brain. Besides, intracranial hemorrhage that are atypical for trauma should also be investigated further with CT or MR angiography to look for other causes of intracranial bleeds apart from trauma causes. Such atypical patterns includes: isolated SAH in the basal cisterns, isolated large-volume SAH in the Sylvian fissure, and isolated SAH in the anterior interhemispheric fissure. These cases warrants investigations to look for aneurysms that can cause such bleeding. [4]

Non-traumatic

Hypertensive bleed

Intracranial bleed in hypertensive subjects usually occurs at 50 to 60 years of life with 30 to 50% chance of death. Such hemorrhages are typically located in the basal ganglia, cerebellum, or occipital lobes. Other location such as bleed within the cerebral cortex and intracranial bleed in people younger than 50 years should prompt further investigations on other causes of bleed such as brain tumour or cerebral arteriovenous malformation. The bleed can be very small without any significant effect on surrounding brain or large hemorrhage that exerts mass effecct on adjacent brain. Follow up CT scan is recommended. Those with extension of bleed into the ventricular system, expansion of bleeding, or increasing cerebral oedema on CT scan gives poorer prognosis. CT angiography (CTA) of brain can be performed to investigate the source of bleeding. An image during the delayed phase of the CTA may be taken to look for pooling of contrast that signifies active bleeding (known as "Spot sign"). Presence of "Spot sign" signifies poor clinical outcome for the subject. [3]

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is the deposition of Amyloid beta peptide protein within the brain. Accumulation of such peptide proteins within the walls of the arteries can cause weakening of the walls and causes microhemorrhages, SAH within the cerebral sulci or large cerebral intraparenchymal bleed. SAH in CAA can be differentiated from vasculitis by its presentations. SAH in CAA usually occurs in those who age more than 60 years, temporary motor and sensory deficits, and intracranial bleed in white matter adjacent to cerebral cortex. Basal ganglia, posterior fossa, and brainstem are spared. Boston criteria is used to determine the likelihood of a cerebral hemorrhage due to CAA. Definitive diagnosis of CAA is by performing brain biopsy [3]

CT scan may show hyperdense intra-axial hemorrhage in the subcortical region. Diffuse white matter hypodensities in both cerebral hemispheres may represents microangiopathic changes. On MRI these lesions will be presented as blooming artifact on gradient echo and susceptibility weighted imaging. [3]

Hemorrhagic conversion of ischemic infarction

43% of those with infarcted brain tissue will develop hemorrhagic conversion. Risk of hemorrhagic is further increased with recanalisation of veins or arteries. Several types of hemorrhages can occur such as petechial hemorrhages around the infarcted margin (HI1), confluent petechial hemorrhages within the infarcted tissue (HI2), hematoma occupying less than 30% of the infarcted tissue (PH1), hematoma involving greater than 30% of infarcted tissue with small mass effect (PH2), and hematoma involving greater than 30% of the infarcted tissue with significant mass effect. However, only PH2 is clinically significant. [3] Those who has infarction should be monitored frequently with CT brains to access hemorrhagic conversions or worsening vasogenic oedema that may require neurosurgical decompression. [3] Dual energy CT scan maybe useful to differentiate the high densities caused by reperfusion hemorrhage (bleeding after endovascular stroke treatment) and high density due to iodinated contrast administered during cerebral angiography. [3]

Cerebral aneurysm

Besides from head injury, it may occur spontaneously, usually from a ruptured cerebral aneurysm (focal outpouchings with weakened walls on the arteries on the brain surface that are prone to rupture). [3] Symptoms of SAH include a severe headache with a rapid onset (thunderclap headache), vomiting, confusion or a lowered level of consciousness, and sometimes seizures. [10] CT scan has 100% sensitivity of detecting SAH at 6 to 24 hours after symptoms onset. [3] The diagnosis is generally confirmed with a CT scan of the head. If CT scan is normal but SAH is still strongly suspected, lumbar puncture can be done at six to twelfth hours after the onset of headache. This is determine the presence of blood within the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Those with SAH will have blood and bilirubin within CSF because of degradation red blood cells. Meanwhile, those who has blood within CSF due to traumatic lumbar puncture will not have bilirubin within CSF. [10] SAH is generally located within basal cisterns, extends diffusely to all subarachnoid spaces (cerebral sulci) or into the ventricular system, or brain parenchyma. Modified Fisher scale is used to describe the volume and distribution of SAH, just predicting the probability of cerebral artery vasospasm after SAH. [3]

Treatment is by prompt neurosurgery or radiologically guided interventions with medications and other treatments to help prevent recurrence of the bleeding and complications. Since the 1990s, many aneurysms are treated by a minimal invasive procedure known as endovascular coiling, which is carried out by instrumentation through large blood vessels. However, this procedure has higher recurrence rates than the more invasive craniotomy with clipping. [10]

Cerebral ateriovenous malformation

Cerebral ateriovenous malformation (Cerebral AVM) is characterised by abnormal shunting between cerebral arteries and veins without going through capillaries. Instead the blood goes through a collection of small vessels from arteries to veins. These collection of abnormal small vessels is termed as "nidus". This condition happens in 0.1% of the population has a risk of 2 to 4% per year for intracranial bleeding. Once ruptured, it results in intraparenchymal hemorrhage, intraventricular hemorrhage and SAH. Rupture of cerebral AVM often occurs in young people and children. Cerebral AVM can be diagnosed by computed tomography angiography (CTA) brain, magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) brain, or digital subtraction angiography (DSA). DSA is important to determine whether there is nidal or perinidal aneurysm. [3]

Dural arteriovenous fistulae

Dural arteriovenous fistulae (DAVF) is the direct connection between dural or cerebral arteries with dural venous sinuses or cortical veins. It accounts for 10 to 15% of intracranial arteriovenous shunts. DAVF lacks a nidus. Signs and symptoms of DAVF are: headache, tinnitus, neurological deficits involving cranial nerves, and increased intracranial pressure. DAVF once ruptured, will produce intraparenchymal hemorrhage or SAH. Increase in number of vessels near dural venous sinuses as seen on CTA is suggestive of DVAF. 4DCT may increase the sensitivity of detecting DAVF. [3] In MRI scans, susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) and arterial spin labelling sequences (labelling protons in blood without the use of contrast media to determine blood flow) are useful in evaluating DAVF. The patterns of draining veins from the fistula determines the risk of DAVF rupture. Increased pressure within the dural venous sinuses causes backpressure into the cortical veins, thus making cortical veins more prone to rupture. The risk of hemorrhage is graded by Cognard and Borden grading systems. These grading systems are based upon the DSA. [3]

Cortical venous/cerebral venous sinus thrombosis

Dural venous sinus thrombosis (DVST) and cortical venous thrombosis (CVT) commonly presents with headache, increased intracranial pressure, or seizures. DVST is more common than CVT. DVST are frequently caused by infections in the skull base, dehydration, thrombophilia, meningioma, and other dural tumours. [3] On CT scans, brain parenchymal hemorrhage that does not confined to specific arterial territory along with hyperdense appearance on dural venous sinuses raises the suspicion of DVST. Further evaluation with CT venography, MR venography, and post gadolinium MRI provides accurate diagnosis of venous thrombosis and follow-up after treatment. These studies demonstrate thrombus as filling defect or lack of signal. [3]

Vasculitis/vasculopathy

Those with vasculitis may be presented with headache, behavioural changes, neurological deficits, or intracranial bleeding. Sulcal SAH is the most common form of intracranial bleed caused by vasculitis. On CT scans, sulcal SAH is seen as hyperdensity within the cerebral sulcus, while on MRI, it is seen as hyperintensity on FLAIR sequence, and hypointensity on GRE/SWI sequence. DSA is important in making the diagnosis of vasculitis or vasculopathy. [3]

Mycotic aneurysm

It is arterial outpouchings arise from distal cerebral arteries. These are pseudoaneurysm, caused by thrombus clogging the distal arteries, which results in inflammation and small tears at the site of occlusion. These inflammation and thrombis can caused by infective endocarditis, artificial heart valve or other heart problems. Similar to vasculitis, rupture of mycotic aneurysm also causes SAH in cerebral sulci, mostly located in the vertex. If mycotic aneurysm is located more proximally, it will produce diffuse SAH pattern. CTA or MRA would produce focal outpouching or increase in diameter of the vessel. Meanwhile, GRE/SWI MRI sequence would produce focal hypointensity. Small mycotic aneurysms are difficult to be seen on CT or MRI. Thus, DSA is useful in identifying these lesions. [3]

Management

For those who is already on blood thinners such as aspirin or clopidogrel for prevention of myocardial infarction or stroke, traumatic intracranial hemorrhage should prompt the use of platelet function assays (PFA-100) to assess the effect of these antiplalelet agents. After that, plateletpheresis can be started to increase the aggregation of platelets, thus stopping the intracranial bleed. In those with impaired kidney functions, desmopressin or cryoprecipitate can be used instead. [11]

From limited observational data, it may be relatively safe to restart blood thinners after an ICH as it is asscoated with reduced thromboembolic complications with similar risk of recurrent hemorrhage when compared to those did not start blood thinners after an ICH. [12]

Comparison

Hematoma typeEpiduralSubdural      
LocationBetween the skull and the inner meningeal layer of the dura mater or between outer endosteal and inner meningeal layer of dura materBetween the meningeal layers of dura mater and the Arachnoid mater
Involved vesselTemperoparietal locus (most likely) – Middle meningeal artery
Frontal locus – anterior ethmoidal artery
Occipital locus – transverse or sigmoid sinuses
Vertex locus – superior sagittal sinus 		Bridging veins
Symptoms (depending on the severity) [13] Lucid interval followed by unconsciousness Gradually increasing headache and confusion
CT scan appearance Biconvex lens Crescent-shaped

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cerebral arteriovenous malformation</span> Medical condition

A cerebral arteriovenous malformation is an abnormal connection between the arteries and veins in the brain—specifically, an arteriovenous malformation in the cerebrum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Head injury</span> Serious trauma to the cranium

A head injury is any injury that results in trauma to the skull or brain. The terms traumatic brain injury and head injury are often used interchangeably in the medical literature. Because head injuries cover such a broad scope of injuries, there are many causes—including accidents, falls, physical assault, or traffic accidents—that can cause head injuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bleeding</span> Loss of blood escaping from the circulatory system

Bleeding, hemorrhage, haemorrhage or blood loss is blood escaping from the circulatory system from damaged blood vessels. Bleeding can occur internally, or externally either through a natural opening such as the mouth, nose, ear, urethra, vagina or anus, or through a puncture in the skin. Hypovolemia is a massive decrease in blood volume, and death by excessive loss of blood is referred to as exsanguination. Typically, a healthy person can endure a loss of 10–15% of the total blood volume without serious medical difficulties. The stopping or controlling of bleeding is called hemostasis and is an important part of both first aid and surgery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intracranial aneurysm</span> Cerebrovascular disorder

An intracranial aneurysm, also known as a cerebral aneurysm, is a cerebrovascular disorder in which weakness in the wall of a cerebral artery or vein causes a localized dilation or ballooning of the blood vessel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aneurysm</span> Bulge in the wall of a blood vessel

An aneurysm is an outward bulging, likened to a bubble or balloon, caused by a localized, abnormal, weak spot on a blood vessel wall. Aneurysms may be a result of a hereditary condition or an acquired disease. Aneurysms can also be a nidus for clot formation (thrombosis) and embolization. As an aneurysm increases in size, the risk of rupture, which leads to uncontrolled bleeding, increases. Although they may occur in any blood vessel, particularly lethal examples include aneurysms of the circle of Willis in the brain, aortic aneurysms affecting the thoracic aorta, and abdominal aortic aneurysms. Aneurysms can arise in the heart itself following a heart attack, including both ventricular and atrial septal aneurysms. There are congenital atrial septal aneurysms, a rare heart defect.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dura mater</span> Outermost layer of the protective tissues around the central nervous system (meninges)

In neuroanatomy, dura mater is a thick membrane made of dense irregular connective tissue that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. It is the outermost of the three layers of membrane called the meninges that protect the central nervous system. The other two meningeal layers are the arachnoid mater and the pia mater. It envelops the arachnoid mater, which is responsible for keeping in the cerebrospinal fluid. It is derived primarily from the neural crest cell population, with postnatal contributions of the paraxial mesoderm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subarachnoid hemorrhage</span> Bleeding into the subarachnoid space

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is bleeding into the subarachnoid space—the area between the arachnoid membrane and the pia mater surrounding the brain. Symptoms may include a severe headache of rapid onset, vomiting, decreased level of consciousness, fever, weakness, numbness, and sometimes seizures. Neck stiffness or neck pain are also relatively common. In about a quarter of people a small bleed with resolving symptoms occurs within a month of a larger bleed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subdural hematoma</span> Hematoma usually associated with traumatic brain injury

A subdural hematoma (SDH) is a type of bleeding in which a collection of blood—usually but not always associated with a traumatic brain injury—gathers between the inner layer of the dura mater and the arachnoid mater of the meninges surrounding the brain. It usually results from tears in bridging veins that cross the subdural space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epidural hematoma</span> Build-up of blood between the dura mater and skull

Epidural hematoma is when bleeding occurs between the tough outer membrane covering the brain and the skull. When this condition occurs in the spinal canal, it is known as a spinal epidural hematoma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penetrating head injury</span> Medical condition

A penetrating head injury, or open head injury, is a head injury in which the dura mater, the outer layer of the meninges, is breached. Penetrating injury can be caused by high-velocity projectiles or objects of lower velocity such as knives, or bone fragments from a skull fracture that are driven into the brain. Head injuries caused by penetrating trauma are serious medical emergencies and may cause permanent disability or death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cerebral angiography</span> Angiography that produces images of blood vessels in and around the brain

Cerebral angiography is a form of angiography which provides images of blood vessels in and around the brain, thereby allowing detection of abnormalities such as arteriovenous malformations and aneurysms. It was pioneered in 1927 by the Portuguese neurologist Egas Moniz at the University of Lisbon, who also helped develop thorotrast for use in the procedure.

A thunderclap headache is a headache that is severe and has a sudden onset. It is defined as a severe headache that takes seconds to minutes to reach maximum intensity. Although approximately 75% are attributed to "primary" headaches—headache disorder, non-specific headache, idiopathic thunderclap headache, or uncertain headache disorder—the remainder are secondary to other causes, which can include some extremely dangerous acute conditions, as well as infections and other conditions. Usually, further investigations are performed to identify the underlying cause.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intracerebral hemorrhage</span> Type of intracranial bleeding that occurs within the brain tissue itself

Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stroke. Symptoms can vary dramatically depending on the severity, acuity, and location (anatomically) but can include headache, one-sided weakness, numbness, tingling, or paralysis, speech problems, vision or hearing problems, memory loss, attention problems, coordination problems, balance problems, dizziness or lightheadedness or vertigo, nausea/vomiting, seizures, decreased level of consciousness or total loss of consciousness, neck stiffness, and fever.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intraparenchymal hemorrhage</span> Medical condition

Intraparenchymal hemorrhage (IPH) is one form of intracerebral bleeding in which there is bleeding within brain parenchyma. The other form is intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cerebral contusion</span> Medical condition

Cerebral contusion, Latin: contusio cerebri, a form of traumatic brain injury, is a bruise of the brain tissue. Like bruises in other tissues, cerebral contusion can be associated with multiple microhemorrhages, small blood vessel leaks into brain tissue. Contusion occurs in 20–30% of severe head injuries. A cerebral laceration is a similar injury except that, according to their respective definitions, the pia-arachnoid membranes are torn over the site of injury in laceration and are not torn in contusion. The injury can cause a decline in mental function in the long term and in the emergency setting may result in brain herniation, a life-threatening condition in which parts of the brain are squeezed past parts of the skull. Thus treatment aims to prevent dangerous rises in intracranial pressure, the pressure within the skull.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dural arteriovenous fistula</span> Medical condition

A dural arteriovenous fistula (DAVF) or malformation is an abnormal direct connection (fistula) between a meningeal artery and a meningeal vein or dural venous sinus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subdural hygroma</span> Collection of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), without blood, located under the dural membrane

A subdural hygroma (SDG) is a collection of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), without blood, located under the dural membrane of the brain. Most subdural hygromas are believed to be derived from chronic subdural hematomas. They are commonly seen in elderly people after minor trauma but can also be seen in children following infection or trauma. One of the common causes of subdural hygroma is a sudden decrease in pressure as a result of placing a ventricular shunt. This can lead to leakage of CSF into the subdural space especially in cases with moderate to severe brain atrophy. In these cases the symptoms such as mild fever, headache, drowsiness and confusion can be seen, which are relieved by draining this subdural fluid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midline shift</span> Sideways displacement of the brain

Midline shift is a shift of the brain past its center line. The sign may be evident on neuroimaging such as CT scanning. The sign is considered ominous because it is commonly associated with a distortion of the brain stem that can cause serious dysfunction evidenced by abnormal posturing and failure of the pupils to constrict in response to light. Midline shift is often associated with high intracranial pressure (ICP), which can be deadly. In fact, midline shift is a measure of ICP; presence of the former is an indication of the latter. Presence of midline shift is an indication for neurosurgeons to take measures to monitor and control ICP. Immediate surgery may be indicated when there is a midline shift of over 5 mm. The sign can be caused by conditions including traumatic brain injury, stroke, hematoma, or birth deformity that leads to a raised intracranial pressure.

A sports-related traumatic brain injury is a serious accident which may lead to significant morbidity or mortality. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) in sports are usually a result of physical contact with another person or stationary object, These sports may include boxing, gridiron football, field/ice hockey, lacrosse, martial arts, rugby, soccer, wrestling, auto racing, cycling, equestrian, rollerblading, skateboarding, skiing or snowboarding.

Spinal cord stroke is a rare type of stroke with compromised blood flow to any region of spinal cord owing to occlusion or bleeding, leading to irreversible neuronal death. It can be classified into two types, ischaemia and haemorrhage, in which the former accounts for 86% of all cases, a pattern similar to cerebral stroke. The disease is either arisen spontaneously from aortic illnesses or postoperatively. It deprives patients of motor function or sensory function, and sometimes both. Infarction usually occurs in regions perfused by anterior spinal artery, which spans the anterior two-thirds of spinal cord. Preventions of the disease include decreasing the risk factors and maintaining enough spinal cord perfusion pressure during and after the operation. The process of diagnosing the ischemic and hemorrhagic spinal cord stroke includes applying different MRI protocols and CT scan. Treatments for spinal cord stroke are mainly determined by the symptoms and the causes of the disease. For example, antiplatelet and corticosteroids might be used to reduce the risk of blood clots in ischaemic spinal stroke patients, while rapid surgical decompression is applied to minimize neurological injuries in haemorrhagic spinal stroke patients instead. Patients may spend years for rehabilitation after the spinal cord stroke.

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  7. ↑ Burduja M, Ionescu RT, Verga N (October 2020). "Accurate and Efficient Intracranial Hemorrhage Detection and Subtype Classification in 3D CT Scans with Convolutional and Long Short-Term Memory Neural Networks". Sensors. 20 (19): 5611. arXiv: 2008.00302 . Bibcode:2020Senso..20.5611B. doi: 10.3390/s20195611 . PMC   7582288 . PMID   33019508.
  8. ↑ Seidenwurm DI (2007). "Introduction to brain imaging". In Brant WE, Helms CA (eds.). Fundamentals of Diagnostic Radiology. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. p. 53. ISBN   978-0-7817-6135-2 . Retrieved 2008-11-17.
  9. ↑ Kushner D (1998). "Mild traumatic brain injury: toward understanding manifestations and treatment". Archives of Internal Medicine. 158 (15): 1617–1624. doi:10.1001/archinte.158.15.1617. PMID   9701095.
  10. 1 2 3 van Gijn J, Kerr RS, Rinkel GJ (January 2007). "Subarachnoid haemorrhage". Lancet. 369 (9558): 306–318. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)60153-6. PMID   17258671. S2CID   29126514.
  11. ↑ "Antiplatelet agent reversal in adults with traumatic intracranial haemorrahge" (PDF). Department of Surgical Education at Orlando Regional Medical Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  12. ↑ Murthy SB, Gupta A, Merkler AE, Navi BB, Mandava P, Iadecola C, et al. (June 2017). "Restarting Anticoagulant Therapy After Intracranial Hemorrhage: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis". Stroke. 48 (6): 1594–1600. doi:10.1161/STROKEAHA.116.016327. PMC   5699447 . PMID   28416626.
  13. ↑ McDonough VT, King B. "What's the Difference Between a Subdural and Epidural Hematoma?" (PDF). BrainLine. WETA-TV. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 August 2010.

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Further reading

  1. ↑ Capodanno D (July 2018). "To unsubscribe, please click here". EuroIntervention. 14 (4): e367–e369. doi: 10.4244/eijv14i4a63 . PMID   30028297.
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