ANALYSIS OF 1,000 CONSECUTIVE PATIENTS WI TH ACUTE CEREBROVASCULAR-DISEASE - REGISTRY OF CEREBRAL VASCULAR-DISEASE IN LA-ALIANZA-CENTRAL-HOSPITAL OF BARCELONA (SPAIN)

BACKGROUND: Registries of cerebral vascular disease (CVD) are useful i n the study of the natural history of acute cerebrovascular disease (A CBD). Nonetheless there are few series which analyze the different str oke subtypes (SS) of CVD. METHODS: A descriptive and comparative clini cal analysis was performed of the different SS of CVD from the registr y of CVD of the La Alianza-Central Hospital of Barcelona (Spain). A pr ospective study of 1,000 consecutive patients with ACVD admitted in th e Neurology Department from 1986-1991 was carried out. The registry re commended by the Study Group of Cerebrovascular Diseases of the Socied ad Espanola de Neurologia (SEN) were used and the stroke subtypes clas sified in agreement with the Glossary of Neurology of the SEN. RESULTS : The mean age of the series was of 71 +/- 13 years with 537 patients being males. The frequency of the stroke subtypes in focal cerebral is chemia (FCI) was: thrombotic infarction 26 %, lacunar infarction 16.9 %, essential infarction 14.8 %, cardioembolic infarction 12.4 %, trans ient ischemic attacks 9 % and infarction of unusual cause 3.5 %. The f requency of the SS in cerebral hemorrhage (CH) was: intraparenchymatou s hemorrhage 14.1 %, subarachnoid hemorrhage 2.0 %, subdural hematoma 1.2 % and epidural hematoma 0.1 %. Mortality of the series was 16.7 % predominating in CH (28 %) versus FCI (14 %) (p < 0.00001). This was f ound to be greatest in cases of intraparenchymatous hemorrhage (31 %) and in the cardioembolic infarction (28 %) and lowest in the lacunar i nfarctions (0.6 %). CONCLUSIONs: The most common stroke subtypes were those of thrombotic infarctions, lacunar infarctions and intraparenchy mal hemorrhages. Essential infarctions constitute 14.8 % of acute cere bral vascular disease. The classification of cerebral vascular disease in its different subtypes is recommendable since this has prognostic and therapeutic implications.