The key difference between intracerebral hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage is that intracerebral hemorrhage refers to bleeding into the brain parenchyma while subarachnoid hemorrhage refers to bleeding into the space between the pia and arachnoid membranes.
Hemorrhage refers to the condition of bleeding from damaged blood vessels. There are many causes of hemorrhages inside and outside the human body. There are five main types of hemorrhages, including bruise or hematoma, hemothorax, intracranial hemorrhage, nosebleed, and petechiae. The symptom of hemorrhages can range from minor bruises to major ones, such as bleeding in the brain. Intracerebral hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage are two types of intracranial hemorrhages.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Intracerebral Hemorrhage
3. What is Subarachnoid Hemorrhage
4. Similarities – Intracerebral Hemorrhage and Subarachnoid Hemorrhage
5. Intracerebral Hemorrhage vs Subarachnoid Hemorrhage in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Intracerebral Hemorrhage vs Subarachnoid Hemorrhage
What is Intracerebral Hemorrhage?
Intracerebral hemorrhage is a type of hemorrhage that causes bleeding into the brain parenchyma. It is also known as intraparenchymal bleed. The causes of this condition include brain trauma, aneurysms, arteriovenous malformation, and brain tumors. The largest risk factors for this condition are high blood pressure and amyloidosis. The other risk factors include alcoholism, low cholesterol, blood thinners, and cocaine use.
The symptoms of this condition are headache, one-sided weakness, vomiting, seizures, decreased level of consciousness, stiffness in the neck, tingling or paralysis in the face, arm, or leg, nausea, vomiting, trouble swallowing, trouble in vision, confusion, delirium, apathy, sleepiness, and lethargy. Sometimes, fever is also a common symptom. These symptoms often get worse over time. Impaired language skills, vision loss, pneumonia, seizure, swelling of the brain, cognitive dysfunction, depression, and emotional problems are some complications of this condition.
Intracerebral hemorrhage can be diagnosed through physical examination, computed tomography angiography (CTA), magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), and X-ray. Furthermore, treatment options for intracerebral hemorrhage are clotting factor administration, blood pressure control to reduce bleeding, measuring and controlling the ICP (pressure on brain tissue due to clot), and surgeries such as craniotomy and stereotactic clot aspiration.
What is Subarachnoid Hemorrhage?
Subarachnoid hemorrhage is a type of hemorrhage that causes bleeding into the subarachnoid space. The subarachnoid space is the area between the arachnoid membrane and the pia matter surrounding the brain. It mainly occurs due to a head injury or usually due to a ruptured cerebral aneurysm. The risk factors include high blood pressure, smoking, family history, alcoholism, and cocaine use. The symptoms of the subarachnoid hemorrhage are sudden severe headache, associated neck or back pain, nausea, vomiting, decreased responsiveness, sudden weakness, dizziness, and seizure.
Moreover, subarachnoid hemorrhage is diagnosed through physical examination, CT scan, lumber puncture, MRI, X-ray, and electroencephalogram. Furthermore, treatments for subarachnoid hemorrhage may include medications for seizures, brain swelling and vasospasm (nimodipine), open surgeries (clipping or vessel bypass), endovascular surgeries (coiling, stenting/flow diversion), shunt surgery, and external ventricular drain (EVD).
What are the Similarities Between Intracerebral Hemorrhage and Subarachnoid Hemorrhage?
- Intracerebral hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage are two types of intracranial hemorrhages.
- They can cause similar symptoms such as headaches, nausea, and vomiting.
- Both hemorrhages can be caused due to aneurysms.
- They can be diagnosed through imaging techniques.
- They are treated through specific medication and specific surgeries.
What is the Difference Between Intracerebral Hemorrhage and Subarachnoid Hemorrhage?
Intracerebral hemorrhage is a type of hemorrhage that causes bleeding into the brain parenchyma, while subarachnoid hemorrhage is a type of hemorrhage that causes bleeding into the space between the pia and the arachnoid membranes. Thus, this is the key difference between intracerebral hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage. Furthermore, intracerebral hemorrhage is caused by brain trauma, aneurysms, arteriovenous malformation, and brain tumors. On the other hand, subarachnoid hemorrhage is caused by head injury or ruptured cerebral aneurysm.
The below infographic presents the differences between intracerebral hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.
Summary – Intracerebral Hemorrhage vs Subarachnoid Hemorrhage
Intracerebral hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage are two different types of intracranial hemorrhages. In an intracerebral hemorrhage, bleeding occurs into the brain parenchyma due to brain trauma, aneurysms, arteriovenous malformation, and brain tumors. In subarachnoid hemorrhage, bleeding occurs in the space between the pia and the arachnoid membranes due to head injury or ruptured cerebral aneurysm. So, this summarizes the difference between intracerebral hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage.
Reference:
1. “Intracerebral Hemorrhage.” AANS.
2. “Subarachnoid-haemorrhage.” NHS Choices, NHS.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Head MRI stroke” By Bobjgalindo – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “An illustration of the different types of brain hemorrhage” By Myupchar (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia