ABSTRACT
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is the most lethal form of stroke, with mortality estimates ranging from 23% to 58% in various modern series ( 1-3 ). The study of the characteristics, behaviors, and outcomes of ICH has progressed through 3 phases. Early reports concerning outcome were largely descriptive and focused on specifi c lesion locations. These reports often identifi ed specifi c clinical fi ndings of prognostic signifi cance. Subsequently, the advent of more sophisticated statistical analysis allowed for the development of multivariate models that provided powerful predictive instruments for large classes of ICH patients. These models have proven useful for estimating the effects of certain characteristics in heterogeneous patient groups (e.g., supratentorial hemorrhages), but they often lack specifi c clinical detail. Most recently, the prognostic signifi cance of individual factors has been confi rmed by clinical trial and observational data from larger data sets. This chapter describes the prognostic information gleaned from these 3 phases.
