Observations on the electrocardiographic changes associated with subarachnoid hemorrhage with special reference to their genesis.

A 36 year old man presented with bizarre behavior and had abnormal electrocardiograms on two occasions. Because of ST-T wave changes, he was treated both times for a possible subendocardial infarction. A more complete evaluation during the second admission revealed a basilar artery aneurysm with subarachnoid hemorrhage as the cause of the central nervous system symptoms. While the aneurysm was successfully clipped, the patient's electrocardiogram was recorded. Several electrocardiographic changes characteristic of intracranial disease were observed during the procedure. These changes developed with distortion of the circle of Willis and reverted when such distortion stopped. We review the spectrum of the electrocardiographic changes associated with intracranial disease. This list of abnormalities was compiled from observations obtained by the impatient tracings of persons with various central nervous system pathology. The mechanisms used to explain the changes are based solely on work performed on laboratory animals. The results of our findings in our patient link electrocardiographic abnormalities directly with a central nervous system lesion.