Cerebral microbleeds in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage are associated with previous cerebrovascular diseases and white matter hyperintensity, but not with regular use of antiplatelet agents.

The validity of regular use of antiplatelet agents was retrospectively assessed in 106 patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) (supratentorial hemorrhage 92, lobar 22 and deep 70; and infratentorial hemorrhage 14) who underwent T(2)*-weighted gradient-echo magnetic resonance (MR) imaging between January 2005 and December 2006 in Kishiwada City Hospital. The prevalence of cerebral microbleeds was 54.7% (58/106), and the presence was significantly associated with higher age (odds ratio 3.09, p = 0.007), presence of white matter hyperintensity on T(2)-weighted MR imaging (odds ratio 2.36, p = 0.032), and previous ICH and/or cerebral infarction (odds ratio 4.77, p = 0.020). Previous ICH and/or cerebral infarction was independently associated with the presence of cerebral microbleeds after adjustment for age, white matter hyperintensity, and hypertension (odds ratio 4.07, p = 0.043). Regular use of antiplatelet agents was not associated with the presence of cerebral microbleeds, whether the patients had cerebrovascular diseases or not. Our findings suggest that antiplatelet medication can be justified for patients with cerebral microbleeds.