[A clinico-pathological study on subarachnoid hemorrhage in autopsied cases: the significance of iron containing granule cells seen in autopsied brain with subarachnoid hemorrhage (author's transl)].

Cerebral infarction and petechial hemorrhage are seen in autopsied brains with subarachnoid hemorrhage as most important findings. However, the pathogenesis for the development of these lesions are still obscure. We have been doing clinico-pathological study on the cerebral petechial hemorrhages following subarachnoid hemorrhage. In this report, the findings of these hemorrhagic lesions were presented in detail by means of Perls-Stieda's iron staining. The results are as follows. Cerebral petechial hemorrhages were seen in 3 out of 13 autopsied cases with subarachnoid hemorrhage and almost all hemarrhagic lesions were perivascular. These hemorrhagic lesions were dominantly seen in the regions, thalamus, hypothalamus, midbrain which were close to the accumulated blood clot in the basal cistern, and in the cerebral cortex beneath the accumulated blood clot. Iron containing granular cells were seen not only in the brain surrounding the petechial hemorrhages but also around the vessels which did not show any hemorrhages. On the other hand, it is well known that it needs more than 7 days after hemorrhage in tissue to demonstrate iron containing granular cells by Perls-Stieda' iron staining. So, it might be estimated that the patients survived more than 7 days after the occurance of intracerebral hemorrhages when iron containing granular cells were demonstrated in the autopsied brains. It could be presumed in this study that the petechial hemorrhages following subarachnoid hemorrhage occurred at an early stage of their clinical courses.