Overview of hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage

  Hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage refers to bleeding in the brain parenchyma or ventricles due to increased blood pressure, also known as cerebral hemorrhage or hemorrhagic stroke. Hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage is most common in middle-aged and elderly people, especially those over 50 years old, and more common in 60-70 years old. Some patients have prodromal symptoms such as headache, dizziness, vomiting, fatigue, blurred vision, drowsiness, mental disorders, personality changes, and transient motor or sensory disturbances hours or days before the onset of hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage.  Hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage usually has acute onset and clinical symptoms and signs appear rapidly, mainly in the following aspects: increased intracranial pressure: severe headache, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, and serious increase in blood pressure; when the hematoma expands intracranial pressure increase by losing compensation, the patient appears coma, urinary and fecal incontinence, and even brain herniation.  Focal symptoms and signs: The hemorrhage in the basal ganglia area often manifests as mild paralysis when it is in the lateral or shell nucleus, and as the typical “three partial signs” when it is in the medial or larger hematoma, i.e., hemiparesis, hemianopia, hemianesthesia, and speech impairment when it is in the dominant hemisphere. Frontal hemorrhage often presents with mental abnormalities, orientation and memory deficits. In thalamic hemorrhage, the main manifestations are sensory disturbance, ocular symptoms and impaired consciousness. In lateral thalamic hemorrhage, severe sensory disturbance is often manifested, along with some motor disturbance and hemianopia. When the thalamic hematoma is large, the main manifestations are impaired consciousness, high fever, gastrointestinal bleeding, and hyperglycemia when the hypothalamus is involved. Cerebellar hemorrhage mainly includes occipital pain, vertigo, vomiting, ataxia, and nystagmus.  Most brainstem hemorrhages occur in the pons, less in the midbrain, medulla oblongata and whole brainstem. A small amount of hemorrhage mainly manifests with headache, dizziness, vomiting, vertigo and limb dysfunction; when the hematoma is huge, it manifests with impaired consciousness, pinpoint pupils, respiratory changes and blood pressure and heart rate changes.