Prognosis factors of oral-anticoagulant-related intracranial haemorrhages: an analysis of 186 cases

Back-ground and Purpose - Intracranial hemorrhages are rare but often fatal complications of anticoagulant therapy The risk of occurrence is related to age, hypertension, and anticoagulation intensity Prognosis factors have not yet been described for subdural hematomas The aim of the study was to determine the factors of poor prognosis in patients presenting with oral anticoagulant-related intracranial hemorrhage Methods - We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of all patients with anticoagulant-related intracranial hemorrhage admitted to our department between 2000 and 2006 The patients' final status (deceased or alive) was analyzed with other risk factors Results - We identified 186 patients The mean age was 70 6 years One hundred thirteen patients had subdural hematomas For both the overall sample and the subdural hematoma sample, multivariate analysis showed that age and coma were associated with poor outcome Headache was associated with a good prognosis Conclusions - Our Study Shows that age and coma at admission were associated With poor outcome in patients presenting anticoagulant Intracranial or subdural hematomas Conversely, headache was a factor for good prognosis as was chronic progression for subdural hematomas. (C) 2009 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.