Neurologia medico-chirurgica
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Neurol. Med. Chir. (Tokyo) · Dec 2016
Histopathological Findings in Brains of Patients Who Died in the Acute Stage of Poor-grade Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.
Patients with poor-grade aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) are likely to die due to irreversible acute-stage primary brain damage. However, the mechanism(s) and pathology responsible for their high mortality rate remain unclear. We report our findings on the brains of individuals who died in the acute stage of SAH. ⋯ Edema and congestion were more obvious in areas where the subarachnoid clot tightly adhered to the pia mater. Pathologically, the brains of deceased patients with acute poor-grade SAH were characterized by edema and multifocal infarcts spread throughout the whole brain; they were thought to be attributable to venous ischemia. Diffuse disturbance in venous drainage attributable to an abrupt increase in the intracranial pressure and focal disturbances due to tight adhesion of the subarachnoid clot to the pia mater, may contribute strongly to irreversible brain damage in the acute stage of SAH.