INTRAVENTRICULAR HEMORRHAGES

In the University Cantonal Hospital in Basel, 34 intraventricular hemo rrhages were diagnosed by computer tomography from 1981 to 1990. The m ost frequent cause of bleeding into the ventricular system (35.3 %) wa s rupture of an aneurysm, followed by hypertensive hemorrhages (23.5 % ). The cause of bleeding into the ventricular system could not be foun d in 20.6 % of the cases investigated. The hemorrhage was present in a ll ventricles in 13 cases. A ruptured aneurysm was responsible for thi s in five patients. The hemorrhage was found in two and three ventricl es in 11 cases. Only one ventricle was filled with blood in 10 cases; this was due to hypertensive hemorrhage in four patients. Besides open and enclosed ventricular drainage, aneurysm clipping was carried out in six cases, osteoplastic craniotomy in 12 cases and bore hole trepan ation in four cases, depending on the underlying disease responsible f or bleeding into the ventricular system. We were able to observe resti tution of complete functional integrity at the follow-up examination o ne year later in eight cases (23.53 % of all patients). Neurological d eficits were shown at follow-up in 10 cases (= 29.41 %). In our patien ts, the mortality was 47.1 % (= 16 patients).