ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the risk factors of symptomatic vasospasm after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage and evaluate the effect of lumbar drainage of cerebrospinal fluid on vasospasm.Methods In this retrospective controlled-cohort study, 175 patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage met our study criteria between January 2012 and December 2013.By multi-factor regression analysis, gender, age, Hunt-Hess grade, modified Fisher grade and lumbar drainage were analyzed.The outcomes were assessed by the presence or absence of symptomatic cerebral vasospasm and vasospasm-related infarction, and the mean days of hospital stay and score of Glasgow Outcome Scale at 1-month follow-up.Results Several factors affected the prognosis of subarachnoid hemorrhage.Lumbar drainage was a protective factor of symptomatic cerebral vasospasm (OR =0.243, 95% CI: 0.119-0.497) and vasospasm-related infarction (OR =0.305, 95% CI: 0.154-0.604).The patients with lumbar drainage had higher score of Glasgow Outcome Scale (P < 0.05).But the patients with lumbar drainage had longer hospital stay (P < 0.05).Conclusions Lumbar drainage of cerebrospinal fluid after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage markedly reduced the risk of symptomatic cerebral vasospasm and improved outcome.