Background: Stroke is the leading cause of brain death. Determining brain death has many benefits, the most important of which is to provide organ donation. However, to date, there is no reliable predictive criterion for determining brain death in stroke. Aim: To study the possibility of predicting brain death by analyzing risk factors, clinical and baseline tests in cases of stroke-related death. Materials and Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted on stroke deaths in the Stroke Department of Third State Central Hospital from January 1 to December 31, 2018, and statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 22.0. Approval for the study was obtained from the Research Council of the Third State Central Hospital. Result: The study included 138 (13.1%) death cases out of 1056 cases hospitalized with a stroke. Of these 138 cases, 90 were intracerebral hemorrhagic stroke (ICH), 30 were subarachnoid stroke, and 18 were ischemic stroke. Death was primarily detected in the age of 50-59 in all study groups (p=0.006, p=0.049). The clinical severity was statistically significant (p<0.05) in the ICH group, with a GCS score of 4.58±2.43 and an NIHSS score of 31.54±7.227. Risk factors for brain death were most common in the ICH group, with arterial hypertension (114 cases) and HCV infection (23 cases) (p<0.0001, respectively). Conclusion ICH, clinical severity, arterial hypertension, and chronic hepatitis B virus infection are predictive factors of brain death.

Background: Cerebral cavernous malformations (CCM) present with varied symptoms and are diagnosed only on MRI, which shows characteristic appearances. Genetic factors play a role, with familial cases following an autosomal dominant inheritance pattern. Case: This is the clinical case of a 48-year-old woman with a history of long-standing arterial hypertension. She was admitted to the Stroke Department with headache, nausea, vomiting, right-sided sensory disturbance, and dysarthria. Based on the clinical presentation and MRI, multiple supra- and infratentorial and intraxial lesions with heterogeneous components were identified, exhibiting hypointense rings on T1- and T2-weighted sequences and a “blooming” effect on T2*/GRE sequences, characteristic of cerebral cavernomas, displaying a “popcorn” appearance. Conclusion In CCM, management requires a multidisciplinary approach, with surgical resection the gold standard for symptomatic cases. Accurate determination of familial or sporadic origin is crucial for tailored treatment.