Haemorrhagic complications of intracerebral cavernomas: value of MRI

Abstract

The authors report a retrospective series of 10 cases of intracerebral haematomas consecutive to cavernomas and studied with MRI. The factors that led to the MRI study were the patients' age and clinical history, the site of the haematoma, the persistence of CT images and a negative arteriography. MRI showed that the haematoma was in contact with the cavernoma in 4 cases and at a distance from it in one case. In 5 cases only the cavernoma was seen at the site of the haematoma. Three patients had multiple cavernomas. In all cases, the diagnosis of cavernoma was confirmed at surgical excision.