Anticoagulant-induced intracerebral bleeding in brain ischemia

During a 5-year period, 85 patients with TIAs, 65 patients with embolic brain ischemia of cardiac source and 50 patients with progressing stroke received intravenous heparin within 96 h. Twelve (6%) developed an early bleeding in the area involved by ischemia. In the 2 cases with transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) (2.3%), major functional sequelae persisted and the 2 cases with emboli from heart (3.2%) died, whereas among the 8 cases with progressing stroke (16%), only 3 worsened from anticoagulant-induced bleeding. Intracerebral bleeding was not associated with excessive anticoagulation or high blood pressure and was related to a large infarction only in the cases with emboli from the heart. Among the 108 patients who were placed on acenocoumarol during 3-12 months after heparin therapy, only one (0.9%) suffered a hemorrhagic infarct from a probable recurrent embolization. The risk of anticoagulant-induced intracerebral bleeding is quite different between the varieties of preceding ischemic events, with different subsequent impact on prognosis.