The medical records and CT images were retrospectively reviewed in 484 consecutive patients with an acute brain hemorrhage (291 men, 193 women; mean age, 67.2 ± 12.3 years) who were admitted to the hospital within 7 days of stroke onset from January 1999 through October 2003. Antithrombotic therapy had been performed in 116 patients (AT Group): warfarin (n = 38), antiplatelet therapy (n = 70), or both (n = 8). The other 368 patients had not received antithrombotic therapy (non-AT Group). The hematoma location was compared among the groups.
The location of the hematoma was significantly different between the two groups (p < 0.0001). The following locations were seen more frequently in the AT Group than in the non-AT Group: thalamic hemorrhage (44.8 % vs. 30.7 % ), cerebellar hemorrhage (7.8 % vs. 2.7 % ), and lobar hemorrhage (18.1 % vs. 11.4 % ). The clinical characteristics in patients with thalamic, cerebellar, or lobar hemorrhage were compared with those with putaminal hemorrhage. A multivariate analysis using the logistic regression model showed that antithrombotic therapy was an independent factor for cerebellar hemorrhage (OR 3.66, 95 % CI 1.31–10.18), lobar hemorrhage (OR 2.27, 95 % CI 1.12–4.57), and thalamic hemorrhage (OR 2.20, 95 % CI 1.06–4.54) in comparison to putaminal hemorrhage.
It therefore appears that antithrombotic therapy is independently associated with thalamic, cerebellar, and lobar hemorrhage.