Clinical Analysis of Surgical Timing for Ruptured Intracranial Aneurysm

ABSTRACT

To evaluate the risk of definitive intracranial microsurgical aneurysm obliteration as a function of the timing of the operative intervention, we retrospectively reviewed 167 consecutive patients in the department of Neurosurgery of Busan Paik's Hospital, Inje medical college, from January 1980 to December 1983. The patients who were operated upon within the first 3 days of their most recent subarachnoid hemorrhage formed the early group;the patients operated upon after the 3 days were considered to have undergone the late surgery. On the base of their clinical outcome the patients were allocated to one of five outcome categories(excellent, good, fair, poor, death) both at the time of their hospital discharge and at their most recent clinical revaluation. The 83% favorable outcome estimated from early operation and 72% from late operation. The mortality was estimated 5% from early operation and estimated 11% from late operation. The optimal timing of surgery for ruptured intracranial aneurysms is currently unknown, but early operation is an effective and reliable method to reduce the occurrence of rebleeding, vasospasm, ischemic complication and medical complication etc. Recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in early operation and increasing numbers of surgeons have been adopting this modality, but prompt, accuate diagnosis and early referral to specialized centers is the only way in which significant advances in reducing the overall morbidity and mortality for majority of patients can be achieved.