Thalamic bleeding: clinico-computed tomographic correlations.

A series of 22 patients with thalamic bleeding with CT confirmation is reported. Sixteen patients had hypertension and 7 experienced headaches and vomiting. Twenty patients had hemiparesis, and 14 had hemianesthesia. More than half the cases had hematomas in the posterior thalamus. Twenty-one had hematomas less than 3 cm. No patient displayed the characteristic pupil signs. One patient died and mortality rate was 4.5% (died from respiratory arrest). None of the 7 patients who had ventricular rupture died, indicating that the prognosis of the patients may not be affected by the ventricular extension.