Intracranial Bleeding in Hemophilia

Three major areas of the nervous system may be involved by bleeding in hemophiliac patients.1-111. Bleeding may compress a peripheral nerve, such as the facial, ulnar, radial, median, sciatic, or perineal, or the cutaneous nerves of the thigh. As a result of the frequency of hemorrhage into the iliopsoas muscles in hemophiliacs, the femoral nerve is most commonly compressed. 2. There may be involvement of the spinal cord, either as hemorrhage within the cord (hematomyelia) or compression from without (spinal sub- or epidural hemorrhage). 3. The third major site is within the cranial cavity, and bleeding here is probably considered the most dreaded complication of the disease, by patient and physician alike. The purposes of this communication are to review the reported occurrences of this last complication of hemophilia, to report 11 new cases, and to discuss the diagnosis and management of intracranial hemorrhage in hemophiliac patients, in