Hemorrhagic Stroke

Summary

A stroke is a medical emergency. There are two types - ischemic and hemorrhagic. Hemorrhagic stroke is the less common type. It happens when a blood vessel breaks and bleeds into the brain. Within minutes, brain cells begin to die. Causes include a bleeding aneurysm, an arteriovenous malformation (AVM), or an artery wall that breaks open.

Symptoms of stroke are

• Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg (especially on one side of the body)
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding speech
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
• Sudden severe headache with no known cause

It is important to treat strokes as quickly as possible. With a hemorrhagic stroke, the first steps are to find the cause of bleeding in the brain and then control it. Surgery may be needed. Post-stroke rehabilitation can help people overcome disabilities caused by stroke damage.

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Learn More

• Hemorrhagic Stroke Treatment (Beyond the Basics) (UpToDate)
• Intracerebral Hemorrhage (Washington University, School of Medicine)
• Let's Talk about Hemorrhagic Stroke (American Heart Association) Also in Spanish
• Subarachnoid Hemorrhage (Washington University, School of Medicine)
• Subarachnoid hemorrhage (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish

Genetics

• Genetics Home Reference: COL4A1-related brain small-vessel disease (National Library of Medicine)
• Genetics Home Reference: familial porencephaly (National Library of Medicine)
• Genetics Home Reference: hereditary cerebral amyloid angiopathy (National Library of Medicine)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Intracranial Hemorrhages (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Subarachnoid Hemorrhage (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Association between volume of surgery for acute hemorrhagic stroke and...
• Article: Deep cerebral microbleeds are associated with the severity of lacunar...
• Article: Therapeutic Approach to Hypertensive Emergencies: Hemorrhagic Stroke.
• Hemorrhagic Stroke -- see more articles

Patient Handouts

• Preventing stroke (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Stroke - discharge (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish