Defects of elastic lamina in middle cerebral artery. A possible cause of a primary intracerebral hemorrhage in a young woman.

Circumscribed defects in the elastic lamina as a possible cause of intracerebral hemorrhage are reported. The abnormality was present in the right middle cerebral artery of a 24-year-old women. The patient died of large intracerebral hemorrhage which extended into the lateral ventricle on the same side and to the subarachnoid space. In the absence of vascular malformation and secondary degenerative changes attributed to hypertension these defects of the internal elastic lamina associated with the rise of the blood pressure appear to lead ultimately to bleeding.