Pregnancy, subarachnoid haemorrhage, and the intravascular coagulation syndrome.

Two patients are described who developed subarachnoid haemorrhage during pregnancy and the puerperium. In both patients there was clinical, haematological, histological, and renal angiographic evidence of the intravascular coagulation syndrome. No source of intracranial bleeding was demonstrated by bilateral carotid angiography in either patient. We suggest that the subarachnoid haemorrhage was a result of the intravascular coagulation syndrome in both patients.