Urinary catecholamines in patients with acute stroke, in reference to CT scan findings

The amount of norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (E) in the urine of 160 stroke patients were measured both at the acute stage and at the chronic stage (31 days or later) of the diseases and a CT scan was taken simultaneously. The urinary NE and E were separated by the high performance liquid chromatography and measured by trihydroxyindole method. Forty five healthy subjects were employed as a control group. The results were as follows: 1) In subarachnoid hemorrhage and intracerebral hemorrhage the NE and E and in cerebral infarction the NE were significantly increased in the acute stage. But, when divided by CT scan findings, the group of intracerebral hemorrhage without perforation into the ventricles showed increases of NE only and those without deviation of midline showed no significant increase of the NE and E. In cases of large cerebral infarction, both NE and E were significantly increased. It is supposed that not only the type of the disease but also the facfors such as its size, perforation into the ventricles and deviation of the midline may change activities of secretion of NE and E. 2) The NE/E ratio was significantly low in the group of intracerebral hemorrhage with perforation into the ventricles (p < 0.001) and the ratio was significantly lower in the thalamic hemorrhage than in the putaminal hemorrhage (p < 0.02). The rate of perforation into the ventricles was significantly higher in the thalamic hemorrhage (78.6 %) than that of the putaminal hemorrhage (10.5 %). 3) In the chronic stage of the stroke, the NE and E (especially E) were decreased and showed a high NE/E. ratio. (author)