RECURRENT INTRACEREBRAL HEMORRHAGE

Between 1984 and 1994, of the 375 patients admitted to our department for intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), 24 (6.4%) had a recurrent ICH. The re were 15 women and nine men and the mean age of the patients was 64. 7 +/- 9.4 years (range 49-81) at the first bleeding episode and 68.7 /- 7.5 years (range 57-83) at the second. The mean interval between th e two bleeding episodes was 47.5 +/- 30.5 months (range 3 months to 14 .8 years). Nine patients presented with more than one recurrence of IC H. Seventy-one percent of the patients were hypertensive. The site of the first hemorrhage was lobar in 17 patients, ganglionic (putamen, th alamus, or caudate nucleus) in six patients, and subdural in one. The recurrent hemorrhage occurred at a different location from the previou s ICH. The most common pattern of recurrence was ''lobar-lobar'' (14 p atients) and more rarely ''ganglionic-ganglionic'' (five patients), wh ich was always observed in hypertensive patients. The outcome after th e recurrent hemorrhage was usually poor, with severe cognitive impairm ent. By comparison with 81 patients followed up to 24 months (47.9 +/- 22.2 months) with isolated ICH without recurrence, only lobar hematom a and a younger age were risk factors for recurrences whereas sex and previous hypertension were not. The mechanisms of recurrence of ICH we re multiple (hypertension, cerebral amyloid angiopathy). Control of bl ood pressure after the first hemorrhage may prevent ICH recurrences.