Cholinergic deregulation in intracerebral haemorrhage: an insight

Intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) accounts for 10–15% of all strokes. Despite high incidence, morbidity and mortality, the pathophysiology of ICH remains unclear. During the last decade new experimental and clinical data has been revealed shedding more light on the fact that ICH is characterized by two main phases: (I) the ‘initial injury’, which means the haematoma onset, described as ‘primary injury’ and characterized mainly by the mass effect of the haematoma in the surrounding brain parenchyma; and (II) the ‘secondary injury’, as a result of the events following the initial bleed.