Immediate spasticity with acute hemiplegia is a sign of basal ganglia hemorrhage.

Acute appearance of hemiparesis or hemiplegia with initial marked spasticity was observed in 8 stroke patients. All had intracerebral hematomas and in 7 it was located in the region of the basal ganglia. By contrast, none of 121 hemiplegic patients with hemispheric ischemic stroke hospitalized during the same period had increased muscle tone in the involved limbs at stroke onset. Study indicates that association of hemiplegia with immediate spasticity at stroke onset is a clinical clue to a possible deeply located intracerebral hematoma.