Rupture of an anterior thalamoperforating artery aneurysm: cause of basal ganglia hemorrhage.

The bulk of spontaneous basal ganglia hemorrhages result from rupture of the small perforating intracerebral arteries and a clinical background of hypertension. Charcot and Bouc hard [1] noted that most microaneurysms occurred in hypertensive brains due to miliary microaneurysms involving branches of lenticu lostriate and thalamoperforating arteries. Such microaneurysms were subsequently demonstrated on direct magnification carotid angiography [2]. Rupture of an arteriovenous malformation , bleedi ng into a neoplasm, and rupture of c ircle of Willis aneurysms are also known causes for hemorrhage within the basal ganglia . On review of the literature , no previous angiographic demonstration of a macroaneurysm arising from a thalamoperforating artery has been uncovered and serves as the basis of our report.