Background Sex-related differences in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) exist. More females than males are affected. Aneurysm location is associated to sex. The relationship between sex and outcome, however, is unclear. Possible differences in management might influence the occurrence of primary and secondary brain injury and thus outcome. The study compares demographics, intensity of treatment, complications, and outcome among females and males with aSAH. Methods All consecutive patients with aSAH admitted to the neurocritical care unit, University Hospital Zurich over a 5-year period were eligible in this retrospective study. Patients’ characteristics, comorbidities, aSAH severity, frequency of vasospasm/delayed cerebral ischemia, frequency of invasive interventions, and 3-month outcome were compared by sex. Univariate analysis was performed with the data dichotomized by sex, and outcome. Multivariate analysis for prediction of outcomes was performed. Results Three hundred forty-eight patients were enrolled (64% females). Women were older than men. Comorbidities, scores at admission, and treatment modality were comparable among males and females. Vasospasm and DCI occurred similarly among females and males. Interventions and frequency of intraarterial spasmolysis were comparable between sexes. In the multivariate analysis, increasing age, female sex, increasing comorbidities, WFNS and Fisher grade, and presence of delayed cerebral ischemia were predictors of unfavorable outcome when considering all patients. However, after excluding death as a possible outcome, sex did not remain a predictor of unfavorable outcome. Conclusions In the study population, women with aSAH might have present a worse outcome at 3 months. However, no differences by sex that might explain this difference were found in intensity of treatment and management.
Background Severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been increasingly recognized as a multisystem disease. SARS–CoV-2 can infect literally any cell type that expresses its target receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2. However, COVID-19 associated organ dysfunction is not only mediated by direct viral effects but also by the interaction between the host`s immune response, endotheliopathy and microvascular coagulopathy. It has been proposed that the activation of the complement system plays a central role in the pathophysiology of severe COVID-19 and the associated endotheliopathy. Case summary A 76 year-old male patient with indeterminate cardiogenic shock in the setting of confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection was admitted to our ICU. Coronary angiography did not reveal a plausible explanation for his symptoms. The patient developed renal failure, neurological symptoms, severe thrombocytopenia, and a Coombs-negative hemolytic anaemia with schistocytes. All together the clinical picture was highly suggestive of a thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) with microvascular cardiac involvement. Conventional therapeutic strategies including high-dose steroids and seven sessions of therapeutic plasma exchange were all unsuccessful. Interestingly, complement inhibition with Eculizumab as rescue approach led to a rapid clinical and laboratory improvement and the patients was discharged with normalized organ functions at day 36. Conclusion The etiology of cardiogenic shock observed in this patient cannot simply be explained by his focal and chronic coronary findings. Although viral myocarditis was not formally excluded, both the clinical features of TMA and the rapid resolution of all clinical signs and symptoms after pharmacological complement inhibition suggest a SARS-CoV-2-driven microangiopathic origin of heart failure.
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