Topic Overview

A hemorrhagic stroke develops when a blood vessel (artery) in the brain leaks or bursts (ruptures). This causes bleeding:

• Inside the brain tissue (intracerebral hemorrhage).
• Near the surface of the brain (subarachnoid hemorrhage or subdural hemorrhage). A common cause of subarachnoid hemorrhage is the rupture of an aneurysm.

Hemorrhagic strokes are not as common as strokes caused by a blood clot (ischemic strokes). But hemorrhagic strokes cause death more often than ischemic strokes. See the difference between an ischemic stroke and a hemorrhagic stroke.