Timing of surgery for intracerebral hematomas due to aneurysm rupture

Abstract

✓ Intracerebral hematomas (ICH) from aneurysm rupture are not rare and can now be diagnosed easily and accurately by computerized tomography. The authors have collected 132 such cases from 11 medical centers. Of these patients, 38% died prior to discharge from the hospital. Seventy-eight percent of cases were admitted to the neurosurgical services on Day 0 or 1 after rupture of the aneurysm; of these patients, 15% died without surgery, 28% had surgery and died postoperatively, and 57% were operated on and survived. Mortality rates were increased in patients who were hypertensive, had poor neurological grades, showed evidence of brain herniation, or had larger clots. If the patient lived beyond the first few days and did not have brain herniation, the timing of surgery was not of great consequence, although there was a tendency toward lower morbidity in earlier surgery. This was true despite the fact that earlier operations were carried out on an initially sicker group of patients. Ischemic deterioration attributed to vasospasm occurred in 26% of cases; even when deaths at the acute stage were excluded, it was no more common in patients with early than in those with late surgery. Morbidity and mortality rates were prohibitively high in operations consisting solely of evacuation of ICH without clipping of the aneurysm. Parietal hematomas were particularly dangerous, while those in the temporal lobe were associated with the best outcome. Since it is impossible to predict survival with a high degree of reliability, even when the prognostic indicators are known, the authors recommend that patients with a significant ICH have it removed as soon as possible and that their ruptured aneurysm be clipped at the same time.