Guidelines for the Management of Spontaneous

Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is more than twice ascommon as subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and is much more likely to result in death or major disability than cerebral infarction or SAH.1 Although.315 randomized clinical therapeutic trials for acute ischemic stroke and 78 trials for SAH were complete or ongoing (oral communication, Cochrane Collaboration, May 16, 1995) as of 1995, only the results of 4 small randomized surgical trials (353 total patients)2–5 and 4 small medical trials (513 total patients)6–9 of ICH had been published. In these small randomized studies, neither surgical nor medical treatment has been shown conclusively to benefit patients with ICH. Advancing age and hypertension are the most important risk factors for ICH.10–15 ICH occurs slightly more frequently among men than women and is significantly more common among young and middle-aged blacks than whites of simila