Significantly higher values of cardiac biomarkers were observed in SAH patients complicated with NPE. Elevated values of cardiac biomarkers appear to play an active role in prediction of NPE, although white blood cell count may be involved in the prediction of NPE. There is an influence of SAH therapy on predictors of NPE.

Background. Mortality rates following aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage (aSAH) have decreased due to improvements in diagnoses and the management of complications, as well as early obliteration of the aneurysms. Neurogenic pulmonary oedema (NPO) is a clinical syndrome associated with an acute increase in intracranial pressure and a release of catecholamines into the circulation. This study investigated independent predictors of unfavourable outcomes (Glasgow Outcome Scores 1, 2 or 3) in patients with aSAH. Materials and methods.A total of 262 patients with aSAH (162 females) were included in this prospective study. Clinical characteristics were assessed, and electrocardiographic, serum cardiac and inflammatory biomarker measurements were recorded on admission. Outcomes were assessed three months after admission. Univariate and multivariate analyses of these data were used to predict unfavourable outcomes. Results.A total of 156 patients (59.54%) had unfavourable outcomes. Compared to those who had favourable outcomes, patients with unfavourable outcomes were significantly older (54.37 ± 10.56 vs. 49.13 ± 10.77 years; p < 0.001) and had more severe aSAHs (Hunt and Hess grades ≥ 3: 82.7% vs. 39.6%; p < 0.001). Patients with unfavourable outcomes were more likely to have NPO (10.3% vs. 2.8%; p = 0.023), hydrocephalus (34.0% vs. 20.8%; p = 0.02), and aneurysm reruptures (28.2% vs. 3.8%; p < 0.001). Independent predictors of an unfavourable outcome included Hunt and Hess grades ≥ 3 (odds ratio [OR], 4.291; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.168-8.491; p < 0.001), increased systolic blood pressure on admission (OR, 1.020; 95% CI, 1.002-1.038; p = 0.03), increased heart rate (HR) on admission (OR, 1.024; 95% CI, 1.001-1.048; p = 0.04), and aneurysm rerupture (OR, 4.961; 95% CI,; p = 0.01).Conclusions. These findings suggest that aneurysm reruptures, as well as increased blood pressure and HR, are associated with unfavourable outcomes in patients with aSAH.

Neurointensive care of patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage is based on the theory that clinical outcome is the consequence of the primary haemorrhage and a number of secondary insults in the acute post haemorrhage period. Several neuromonitoring techniques have been introduced or accomplished into clinical practice in the last decade with the purpose of monitoring different but related aspects of brain physiology, such as cerebral blood flow (CBF), pressure within the cranial cavity, metabolism, and oxygenation. The aim of these techniques is to obtain information that can improve knowledge on brain pathophysiology, and especially to detect secondary insults which may cause permanent neurological damage if undetected and untreated in "real time", at the time when they can still be managed. These techniques include intracranial pressure (ICP) measurements, jugular venous oxygen saturation, near-infrared spectroscopy, brain tissue monitoring, and transcranial Doppler. The available devices are limited because they measure a part of complex process indirectly. Expense, technical difficulties, invasiveness, limited spatial or temporal resolution and the lack of sensitivity add to the limitation of any individual monitor. These problems have been partially addressed by the combination of several monitors known as multimodality monitoring. In this review, we describe the most common neuromonitoring methods in patients with subarachnoidal hemorrhage that can assess nervous system function, cerebral haemodynamics and cerebral oxygenation.

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