Some catastrophic diseases of the central nervous system can simulate the tomographic pattern of the subarachnoid hemorrhage; the most frequent is the hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. The recognition of this entity by the physicians can prevent an aggressive study and treatment of this group of patients. We present a case with clinical and tomographic probably diagnosis but without final confirmation by cerebrospinal fluid analysis or autopsy. A patient who developed a hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, three days after, his brain computed tomography showed a pseudo subarachnoid hemorrhage imaging