Endovascular treatment of vasospasm related to acute subarachnoid hemorrhage from ruptured aneurysms.

In the first 2 weeks after subarachnoid hemorrhage caused by a ruptured aneurysm, 30-35 % of surviving patients treated with conservative nonoperative therapy experience rebleeding. This is fatal in 60-90 % of cases and leads to significant disability in 17-20 % of cases. A major factor for this poor outcome is thought to be the vasospasm that occurs in up to 38.7 % by the third day, 46.3 % by the ninth day, and eventually in up to 70 % of patients. Endovascular treatment of aneurysms associated with acute subarachnoid hemorrhage has the potential to decrease the occurrence of rebleeding and therefore decrease the high mortality and morbidity associated with this disease. Treatment of vasospasm, if it does occur, has the potential to further improve patient outcomes. We describe the outcomes of 174 of our patients with acute subarachnoid hemorrhage caused by a ruptured aneurysm who were treated with endovascular techniques. Overall, the majority of our patients experienced a good or excellent outcome.

Silent brain injury after cardiac surgery: a review: cognitive dysfunction and magnetic resonance imaging diffusion-weighted imaging findings.

The appearance of cognitive dysfunction after cardiac surgery in the absence of focal neurologic signs, a poorly understood but potentially devastating complication, almost certainly results from procedure-related brain injury. Confirmation of the occurrence of perioperative silent brain injury has been developed through advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques. These techniques detect new brain lesions in 25% to 50% of patients after both coronary artery bypass graft and valve surgery. Use of post-operative cognitive dysfunction as a marker of brain injury is problematic because of potential difficulties in ascertainment. It can be hypothesized that post-operative appearance of MRI lesions may serve as a more objective marker of brain injury in research efforts. If MRI examination can be used in this way, then 2 vitally important questions can be addressed. 1) What is the frequency of important, but silent, brain injury during cardiac surgery? 2) Does long-term cognitive impairment ensue? This review briefly discusses clinical features of post-operative cognitive dysfunction and reviews the evidence supporting a possible association with MRI evidence of perioperative brain injury and its potential for long-term dementia. We conclude that this association is plausible, but not yet firmly established.