Apraxia and cerebral haemorrhage: the relationship between haematoma volume and prognosis

In this study, we examined twenty-five patients with left putaminal haemorr hage to investigate the relations between ideational apraxia (IA) and intra cerebral haemorrhage. Apraxias were determined at 1 and 6 months after the stroke onset. Extension and volume of haematoma were examined with CT scan within 2 days of stroke onset. IA was present in 10 cases at 1 month and di sappeared in 6 cases (transient IA) and persisted in 4 cases(persisted IA) at 6 months from the onset. Although the haematoma volume related to the ex istence of IA, there was no significant difference between transient and pe rsistent IA. All three patients with the haematoma volume larger than 40 mi in the transient IA group were younger than 50 years old. All cases with p ersistent IA were older than 50 years old. Consequently, the existence of I A seems to be partially dependent on the haematoma volume which may cause t he organic damage of subcortical white matter. However, patient's age is al so important to determine the prognosis of IA. This maybe related to the na ture of the haemorrhage and the mode of the onset. These factors remain to be determined. (C) 2000 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.