Is cerebral hemorrhage serious?

Written by Gao Yi Shen
Neurosurgery
Updated on September 25, 2024
00:00
00:00

The critical period for cerebral hemorrhage is generally around 14 days, as it primarily involves overcoming two most dangerous phases. The first phase is within three days of the cerebral hemorrhage. This period is most feared for the potential increase in bleeding. Often, if blood pressure is not well controlled, it can easily lead to further bleeding, especially within the first three days which has the highest incidence. The second phase is approximately 10-14 days after the cerebral hemorrhage, because this period marks the peak of cerebral swelling and cerebral vasospasm. The main concern here is severe cerebral swelling and cerebral vasospasm, which can lead to cerebral infarction, and potentially extensive cerebral infarction, possibly resulting in death. Trepanation surgery may be necessary to save the patient.

Other Voices

doctor image
home-news-image
Written by Zhang Hui
Neurology
1min 5sec home-news-image

Early warning signs of cerebral hemorrhage

Cerebral hemorrhage is an emergency in neurology, typically presenting acutely with little to no warning signs. Patients usually experience rapid onset of symptoms including headache, nausea, vomiting, and paralysis of limbs. A detailed look at the patient's medical history may reveal some prodromal symptoms such as recent overexertion, emotional excitement, lack of rest, or constipation, which are common triggers. If a patient experiences repeated chronic headaches and general weakness, these could be the mechanical prodromal symptoms of cerebral hemorrhage. A significant fluctuation in blood pressure should also raise concerns about the possibility of a cerebral hemorrhage. Once a cerebral hemorrhage occurs, it is crucial to promptly seek hospital treatment. If the volume of the hemorrhage is substantial, it poses a life-threatening risk to the patient and surgical treatment may be necessary. If the hemorrhage is smaller, conservative treatment may suffice, focusing on bed rest, maintaining emotional stability, and administering neuroprotective medications.

doctor image
home-news-image
Written by Chen Yu Fei
Neurosurgery
44sec home-news-image

What are the symptoms of cerebral hemorrhage?

For patients with cerebral hemorrhage, the symptoms vary clinically due to different amounts of bleeding and instability of the hemorrhage, which affect the surrounding brain tissue to different extents. For patients with minor cerebral hemorrhage, the impact is generally minor, and most patients only exhibit mild symptoms such as headache, dizziness, nausea, and retching. For patients with larger bleeding volumes located in crucial motor and speech functional areas, they often show symptoms such as unilateral limb paralysis and abnormal sensations in the affected limbs, accompanied by significant headaches, dizziness, reduced intellectual levels, cognitive impairments, and even aphasia.

doctor image
home-news-image
Written by Jiang Fang Shuai
Neurosurgery
1min 15sec home-news-image

How is cerebral hemorrhage treated?

The treatment for brain hydrocephalus includes conservative medical treatment and surgical intervention. Conservative medical treatment is primarily for patients with a lesser amount of bleeding, using methods such as hemostasis, brain protection, dehydration to reduce intracranial pressure, and maintaining electrolyte balance for symptomatic support treatment. For bedridden patients, it's also necessary to prevent and treat various complications such as pulmonary infections, urinary system infections, and venous thrombosis. Surgical treatment is mainly for patients with a larger volume of bleeding, approximately 30mL of cerebrospinal fluid bleeding, cerebellar bleeding over 10mL, or cerebellar bleeding less than 10mL but causing brainstem compression. Patients with hydrocephalus should actively consider surgery to remove the hematoma. The decision to perform decompressive craniectomy is based on preoperative and intraoperative findings. In some cases, where the brain compression is not severe, or in elderly patients who have poor tolerance for surgery, minimally invasive surgery to remove the hematoma may be considered.

doctor image
home-news-image
Written by Jiang Fang Shuai
Neurosurgery
44sec home-news-image

Is cerebral hemorrhage dangerous?

Cerebral hemorrhage damages the central nervous system, which is our command center. Once the command center is damaged, a person's respiration, blood pressure, pulse, heartbeat, body temperature, movement, sensation, digestion, and other vital activities will be affected. The common sites for cerebral hemorrhage are in the basal ganglia, cerebrospinal fluid, pons, and cerebellum. These regions are usually important brain functional areas. Therefore, although advanced medical technology is available for treating patients with cerebral hemorrhage, the mortality and disability rates are still relatively high. Cerebral hemorrhage is a dangerous disease.

doctor image
home-news-image
Written by Chen Ya
Geriatrics
31sec home-news-image

Sequelae of cerebral hemorrhage

The most common sequelae of cerebral hemorrhage is hemiplegia, which is specifically characterized by reduced muscle strength in the limbs on one side, difficulty in movement or complete immobility, often accompanied by sensory impairments on the same side, such as reduced sensation to cold, heat, pain, etc., or complete numbness. Sometimes there may also be vision loss on the affected side, as well as aphasia, headache, vertigo, and nausea.