[Cerebrovascular disease in the elderly--a clinicopathological study of 73 autopsied cases with intracerebral hemorrhage].

The medical records and autopsy data of patients over the age of 70 years at death with a diagnosis of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in the Yokufukai Geriatric Hospital were reviewed. All cases with ICH caused by head injury, rupture aneurysms or arteriovenous malformations were excluded from this study. There were 73 autopsied cases with spontaneous ICH from January 1978 to September 1988. There were 33 men and 40 women. Fourteen percent of the patients had a stroke while hospitalized for another disorder. Their ages at death ranged from 70 to 99 years with a mean of 81.8 years. Of these, 48 cases (66%) were 70 years or older at the time of ICH. In the senile ICH (over 70 years), the following characteristics were observed; (1) the most common location was the thalamus, which accounted for 33.3% of the hemorrhage. (2) subcortical and cerebellar hemorrhage accounted for 16.6% and 14.6% of the total, respectively. (3) there was no pontine hemorrhage. Fifty-seven percent had anamnestic hypertension before the stroke. The ages at which they became bedridden state ranged from 62 to 92 years with a mean of 79.5 years. This study revealed that the non-organic factors such as insidious generalized muscular weakness or decreased spontaneity were important as causes of the deterioration of ADL in the chronic stage of the senile ICH. Within one year after becoming bedridden state, 76.1% of all patients died. The bedridden state in the elderly with the residuals of ICH indicated a poor prognosis. As causes of death, pneumonia occurred in 28.8% of all patients, brain death in 19.2%, and sudden death in 12.3%.