This is a basic article for medical students and other non-radiologists
Intracranial hemorrhage refers to bleeding within the intracranial cavity and is, therefore, a catch-all term which includes parenchymal (intra-axial) hemorrhage and the various types of extra-axial hemorrhage including, subarachnoid, subdural and extradural hemorrhage.
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Reference article
This is a summary article; read more in our article on Intracranial hemorrhage.
Summary
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anatomy
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pathophysiology
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etiology and pathophysiology dependent on the type of hemorrhage
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intraparenchymal
trauma
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trauma
ruptured aneurysm
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venous bleed from low-impact trauma
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arterial bleed from high-energy trauma and skull fracture
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Imaging
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role of imaging
is there any hemorrhage?
where is it?
is the cause visible on the scan, e.g. fracture, aneurysm)?
are there any complications, e.g. mass effect, midline shift?
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radiographic features
acute hemorrhage is hyperdense (white) on CT
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as the blood ages, the density decreases
chronic blood approaches the density of CSF
sizable hemorrhage may cause mass effect and midline shift