Cerebral hematomas make up about 30% of all strokes and are more dangerous. Many hematomas are large and are fatal. The commonest ones are those that occur near the corpus striatum or "striatal". Sometimes they are called putaminal. These hematomas are invariably caused by hypertension. They are central in location and are massive with dissection of the hematomas into the brain stem or the lateral ventricles. The sites of vascular rupture are described to be due to microaneurysms of the small perforating vessels of the basal ganglia, the so-called lenticulostriate arteries. They are branches of the internal carotid artery, middle cerebral artery and the anterior choroidal artery.