Psychosomatic Medicine 16:374-392 (1954)
© 1954 American Psychosomatic Society

Psychodynamic and Arteriographic Studies of Acute Cerebral Vascular Disorders

Report of Six Patients under the Age of Fifty without Gross Pathogenic Lesions

¹ State University of New York College of Medicine Syracuse

Acute cerebral vascular disorders are reported in 6 young people without antecedent disease. There was hemiparesis in 3 cases, impaired consciousness in 4, spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage in 4. Necropsy was performed in 3. Angiographic studies revealed that these individuals had an abnormally great tendency toward cerebral arterial contractility. This spasm affected primarily the subarachnoid course of the internal carotid artery. Although the stroke was preceded by a situation stressful to the individual, we cannot yet delineate a distinct personality pattern in these patients. Nevertheless, some features were common to the character structure of the 3 men studied and other features to that of the 3 women.