Clinical Assessment of Risk Factors for the Intracerebral Hemorrhage in Patients with Chronic Renal Failure / 대한뇌혈관외과학회지

OBJECTIVE: Cerebrovascular and cardiovacular diseases are the main causes of death in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) and who are undergoing hemodialysis. We investigated the risk factors for the development of intracerbral hemorrhage (ICH) in this population. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed a total of 53 patients who underwent hemodialysis for CRF and who developed ICH. The patients' demographics, including gender and age, the duration of the hemodialysis, the initial Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score, the underlying causes of CRF, the past medication history, the location and amount of hemorrhage and the therapeutic modality for ICH were analyzed. RESULTS: The development of ICH significantly increased in the old age patients (> or = 65 years), the patients with a prolonged history of hemodialysis (> or = 5 years) and the patients with hypertension (p or = 180 mmHg) were not significantly correlated with the occurrence of intracerebral hemorrhage in the hemodialyzed patients. CONCLUSION: The present study suggests that the development of ICH in patients with CRF is increased in the old age patients, the patients with a prolonged history of hemodialysis and the medically co-morbid patients. To avoid this disastrous complication, we should try to minimize the modifiable risk factors of hemorrhagic stroke in CRF patients.

Five - year Trends of Cerebrovascular Surgery in a Neurosurgical Department with a Small Volume of Practice at a Single Institute with Reference to the Endovascular Treatment / 대한뇌혈관외과학회지

OBJECTIVE: In recent years, the neurosurgeon's role in managing cerebrovascular diseases (CVD) has becomes rapidly challenged and overlapped with other specialists. Furthermore, the patterns of CVD and patient recruitment have also changed. We conducted a retrospective study regarding the practical trends of CVD with reference to the management paradigms at our institute. METHOD: We reviewed all the available data, including the annual reports, the daily department records, the medical records and the radiographic films of the CVD patients who had been admitted to our Neurosurgery Department during the five years between Jan. 2004 and Dec. 2008. RESULTS: The total numbers of CVD operations showed a slight initial increase, but then they remained steady for the latter 3 years. The number of cases of non-angiomatous hemorrhage has been relatively steady, regardless of surgery. The total numbers of treated aneurysms increased, but the main body of this increment was attributed to the initiation of endovascular treatment and increased identification of unruptured vascular lesions. Vascular malformations were sustained with a small number of cases due to referring them to other institutes for radiosurgery, except for the cases that required urgent hemorrhagic evacuation. CONCLUSION: Hemorrhagic CVDs tended to decrease either due to increasing identification before rupture or shifting such patients into a large volume hospital. The increasing awareness of ischemic CVD, the early detection of unruptured aneurysms, and the separation of medical responsibilities from neurologists have all pushed neurosurgeons to make treatment plans in a more cooperative fashion, instead of a competitive way. Neurosurgeons should be furnished with several revolutionary surgical options to widen their scope of managing patients with CVD.