Contralateral intraparenchymal hemorrhage following aneurysmal clipping

Abstract

Post-clipping intraparenchymal hemorrhage of the contralateral hemisphere is a very unusual phenomenon in a patient with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage, unless there is an underlying condition. We report a complicated case of 47-year-old man, who underwent uneventful clipping of ruptured aneurysm and experienced vasospasm two weeks later. Vasospasm was treated by intra-arterial nimodipine and systemic hyperdynamic therapy. One week thereafter, he became unconscious due to intraparenchymal hemorrhage on the anterior border-zone of contalateral hemisphere, but intraoperative and pathologic findings failed to disclose any vascular anomaly. We suggest that the anti-spastic regimens cause local hemodynamic redistribution through the vasodilatory effect and in turn, resulted in such an unexpected bleeding.