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Recently, two randomized controlled phase II studies showed that acute initiation of statin treatment directly after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) decreases the incidence of radiologic vasospasm and clinical signs of delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI), and even reduces mortality. It was hypothesized that the beneficial effect resulted from pleiotropic effects of statins. The purpose of this study was to investigate the biologic effects of acute statin treatment in patients with SAH. We performed an exploratory single-center, prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Patients were randomized to simvastatin 80 mg or placebo once daily. A total of 32 patients were included. There were no statistically significant differences in clinical baseline characteristics. With regard to primary outcomes, there were significant differences by treatment group for total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (P<0.0001), but not for parameters of coagulation, fibrinolysis, endothelium function, and inflammation. With regard to secondary outcomes, no differences were observed in the incidence of transcranial Doppler vasospasm, clinical signs of DCI, and poor outcome. We conclude that both the primary and secondary outcome results of this study do not support a beneficial effect of simvastatin in patients with SAH.

Object: Patients with fusiform aneurysms can present with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), mass effect, ischemia, or unrelated symptoms. The absence of an aneurysm neck impedes the direct application of a clip and endovascular coil deployment. To evaluate the effects of their treatments, the authors retrospectively analyzed a consecutive series of patients with posterior circulation fusiform aneurysms treated at Stanford University Medical Center between 1991 and 2005., Methods: Forty-nine patients (mean age 53 years, male/female ratio 1.2:1) treated at the authors' medical center form the basis of the analysis. Twenty-nine patients presented with an SAH. The patients presenting without SAH had cranial nerve dysfunction (five patients), symptoms of mass effect (eight patients), ischemia (six patients), or unrelated symptoms (one patient). The aneurysms were located on the vertebral artery (VA) or posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA) (21 patients); vertebrobasilar junction (VBJ) or basilar artery (BA) (18 patients); and posterior cerebral artery (PCA) (10 patients). Pretreatment clinical grades were determined using the Hunt and Hess scale; for patients with unruptured aneurysms (Hunt and Hess Grade 0) functional subgrades were added. Outcome was evaluated using the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) score during a mean follow-up period of 33 months. Overall long-term outcome was good (GOS Score 4 or 5) in 59%, poor (GOS Score 2 or 3) in 16%, and fatal (GOS Score 1) in 24% of the patients. In a univariate analysis, poor outcome was predicted by age greater than 55 years, VBJ location, pretreatment Hunt and Hess grade in patients presenting with SAH, and incomplete aneurysm thrombosis after endovascular treatment. In a multivariate analysis, age greater than 55 years was the confounding factor predicting poor outcome. Stratification by aneurysm location removed the effect of age. Of 13 patients with residual aneurysm after treatment, five (38%) subsequently died of SAH (three patients) or progressive mass effect/brainstem ischemia (two patients)., Conclusions: Certain posterior circulation aneurysm locations (PCA, VA-PICA, and BA-VBJ) represent separate disease entities affecting patients at different ages with distinct patterns of presentation, treatment options, and outcomes. Favorable overall long-term outcome can be achieved in 90% of patients with PCA aneurysms, in 60% of those with VA-PICA aneurysms, and in 39% of those with BA-VBJ aneurysms when using endovascular and surgical techniques. The natural history of the disease was poor in patients with incomplete aneurysm thrombosis after treatment.

Background Patients with an aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) and World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS) grade I on admission are generally considered to have a good clinical outcome. Objective The objective of this study was to assess the actual clinical outcome of WFNS grade I aSAH patients, and to determine which factors are associated with unfavourable outcome. Methods For this prospective cohort study, 132 consecutive patients (age 18 years or older) with a WFNS grade I aSAH admitted to our hospital between December 2011 and January 2016 were eligible. Clinical outcome was measured using the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) at 6-month follow-up. Unfavorable outcome was defined as an mRS score of 3–6. Univariable analyses were performed using logistic regression models. Results Of 116 patients, only 5 patients (4%) had an mRS score of 0 and most (65%) had an mRS score of 2. Twenty-five patients (22%) had an unfavorable outcome. Nine (8%) patients died, of whom 4 died during admission. Factors associated with unfavorable outcome were age (per increasing decade: odds ratio [OR]. 1.78; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.16–2.72), delayed cerebral ischemia (OR, 4.32; 95% CI, 1.63–11.44), pneumonia (OR, 10.75; 95% CI, 1.94–59.46) and meningitis (OR, 28.47; 95% CI, 1.42–571.15). Conclusions Despite their neurologically optimal clinical condition on admission, 1 in 5 patients with WFNS grade I aSAH has an unfavorable clinical outcome or is dead at 6-month follow-up. Additional multivariable analysis in larger patient cohorts is necessary to identify the extent to which preventable complications contribute to unfavorable outcomes in these patients. Highlights • One of 5 WFNS I aSAH patients has an unfavorable outcome at 6-month follow-up. • Two thirds of the WFNS I aSAH patients had a mRS score of 2 at 6-month follow-up. • Multivariable analysis in larger cohorts may identify preventable complications contributing to unfavourable outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the management of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH), aneurysm treatment as early as feasible is mandatory to minimize the risk of a rebleed and may thus improve outcome. We assessed the different time intervals from the first symptoms of aSAH to start of aneurysm treatment in an effort to identify which factors contribute mostly to a delay in time to treatment. In 278 aSAH patients, time intervals between the different steps from initial hemorrhage to aneurysm treatment were retrospectively reviewed, and delaying factors were determined. Half of the patients presented to a hospital within 115 min (IQR 60-431). The median (IQR) interval from hemorrhage to diagnosis was 169 min (96-513), and from diagnosis to treatment 1,057 min (416-1,428), or 17.6 h. Aneurysm treatment started within 24 h in 76 % of treated patients. Independent factors predicting delay to treatment were primary presentation at a referring hospital and admission to the treatment center later in the day. Delay in treatment was not independently related to poor outcome. The interval to aneurysm treatment might be improved upon by immediate and direct transport to the treatment center combined with optimization of in-hospital logistics, following the 'time-is-brain' concept so successfully adopted in the treatment of ischemic stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poor-grade subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) has been associated with a high case fatality, either in the acute phase or in the later stages. The exact causes of death in these patients are unknown. We performed a retrospective study of all consecutive patients with SAH with World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies grade IV or V on admission from 2009 to 2013 at 2 tertiary referral centers in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Toronto, Ontario, Canada, who had died during their hospital stay. Of 357 patients, 152 (43%) had died. Of these 152 patients, 87 (24%) had not undergone aneurysm treatment. The median interval to death was 3 days (interquartile range, 1–12 days) after initial hemorrhage. The major cause of death in both centers was withdrawal of life support (107 patients [71%]; 74 of 94 [79%] in Amsterdam and 33 of 58 [58%] in Toronto; P < 0.01), followed by brain death in 23 (15%; 16 of 58 [28%] in Amsterdam vs. 7 of 94 [7%] in Toronto; P < 0.01). The remaining causes of death represented <15%. The decision to withdraw life support was the major reason for death of patients with poor-grade SAH for an overwhelming majority of the patients. The exact reasons for withdrawal of life support, other than cultural and referral differences, were undetermined. Insight into the reasons of death should be prospectively studied to improve the care and clinical outcomes of patients with poor-grade SAH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]