Nontraumatic intracerebral hemorrhage unassociated with arterial aneurysmal rupture as a cause of sudden unexpected death.

Sudden death from intracerebral hemorrhage was observed in two patients admitted to Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas in a single month. Each had been drinking alcohol at the time of onset of first symptoms. Intracerebral hemorrhage was diagnosed in one patient by computed tomography, but not in the second patient who clinically was diagnosed as having acute coronary syndrome. Both died within 24 hours of onset of symptoms, and autopsy in both disclosed intracerebral hemorrhage, an infrequent cause of sudden death. This report calls attention to intracerebral hemorrhage as a cause of sudden death.