INTRACEREBRAL HEMORRHAGE IN AIDS

We report 8 patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (IDS) and intracerebral haemorrhage. There were 7 men and 1 woman (mean age 37.2 years) with a mean CD4 count of 8 1.2/mm(3). Alcohol abuse was r ecorded in 7 patients, intravenous drug use in 4, homosexual activity in 2, thrombocytopaenia in 1 and severe hypertension in 1. There were 5 lobar and 3 deep haemorrhages. Potential aetiologies of intracerebra l haemorrhage included cerebral toxoplasmosis (n = 2), thrombocytopeni a (n = 2), hypertension (n = 1) and cerebral tuberculosis (n = I). Dat a of these patients were compared with those of 30 AIDS inpatients wit hout brain haemorrhage matched by age and sex and no statistically sig nificant differences in risk factors for AIDS except for alcohol abuse (>80 g/day) (p = 0.045) were found. Causes of brain haemorrhage in AI DS patients are heterogeneous. The relationship between both condition s may be explained by the effect of several predisposing factors to st roke in association with AIDS-related complications. Intracerebral hae morrhage is a late and serious complication of AIDS (mortality 62.5%). The frequency of intracerebral haemorrhage in AIDS (1.0%) is higher t han that expected in a general population of young adults.