Vasospasm in Intracranial Aneurysm

ABSTRACT

The literature concerning cerebral vasospasm associated with subarachnoid hemorrhage(SAH) due to ruptured intracranial aneurysm contains no definitive study of patients to determine whether there is (1) any clinical picture consistently present coincident with known cerebral vasospoasm, (2) any relationship between mortality and known vasospasm, and (3) any relationship between serious brain damage(morbidity) and known vasospasm. To answer these important questions, experience with 138 consecutive acute SAH patients due to ruptured intracranial aneurysm was studied. The results were (1) The vasospasm was seen in 61 patients(44.2%) and the clinical vasospasm was seen in 41 patients(29.8%);(2) The average interval between last SAH and vasospasm was 8.3 days;(3) The most common neurological deficit was a hemiparesis or a hemiplegia;(4) There is no relationship between mortality and vasospasm.