Intensive care management of stroke patients.

Two hundred eighty patients were admitted to an intensive care stroke unit over a one-year period. Subsequent investigation indicated that only 199 of these patients actually had cerebral ischemic or hemorrhagic lesions, 10 had other cerebrovascular lesions, and the remaining 71 patients had unrelated diseases, predominantly seizures. Detailed analysis of 103 stroke patients revealed an overall incidence of 59% hypertension, and 72% had hypertensive, ischemic or valvular heart disease. Fifty percent of the patients had various cardiac arrhythmias, some of which were responsible for the acute cerebrovascular lesion. Fourteen patients died during the acute phase, 11 from apparently irreversible cerebral selling, mainly due to cerebral hemorrhage. Secondary complications such as pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, pressure sores and urinary infection were almost nonexistent, but beneficial effects on the primary cerebral lesions were more difficult to demonstrate.