Subarachnoid hemorrhage: what is the outcome after surgical treatment?

In case of serious and considered by doctors as always poor prognosis disease, it is normal to worry even if the treatment has been successfully completed. Indeed, one can always expect any late complications, even doctors are not able to predict ...

What is a subarachnoid hemorrhage?

The subarachnoid hemorrhage is characterized by the invasion of blood in the subarachnoid space. This disease is primarily the result of a ruptured aneurysm in the brain. The rupture of these aneurysms is often secondary to hypertension, alcoholism, smoking, obesity, ... and usually occurs between 40 and 60 years.

The subarachnoid hemorrhage is a serious condition, often with a high mortality rate. Care must be efficient and rapid.

Subarachnoid hemorrhage: a recurrence after treatment?

The treatment of subarachnoid hemorrhage is focused on treating the cause. If aneurysm, surgical treatment prevents recurrence of subarachnoid hemorrhage. Currently, the technique of choice is embolization of the aneurysm. The coil embolization is a small catheter inserted in the aneurysm sac to deposit the coils, which are material in turns to close the vessel.

Several studies and practical experience have shown that coil embolization to treat a ruptured aneurysm be effective and reliable, and the complication rate is very low and the recurrence of bleeding is very rare, because the vascular occlusion is almost complete.

However, it should be noted that surgery should be performed as early as possible to avoid recurrence of bleeding. The risks of surgery are not to be neglected, but still small compared to no treatment of subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Feared complications are arterial vasospasm (consistently warned), hydrocephalus, intracranial hypertension ...

Some signs are sometimes seen after surgery. It is usually neurological deficits such as memory impairment, behavioral disorders with depressive syndrome, cognitive disorders, sleep disorders, fatigue, frequent states ...

Subarachnoid hemorrhage and prognosis after treatment

The evolution of a subarachnoid hemorrhage after surgical treatment is difficult to predict, the condition is often poor prognosis.

However, the prognosis after treatment also depends on the health of the patient and the severity of subarachnoid hemorrhage at the time of diagnosis. Some factors are taken into account before assessing prognosis

- Age: older age is a poor prognosis. After surgery, it is clear that young person recovers faster than elderly. Age is sometimes a factor forbearance surgery.

- The size of the aneurysm

- The clinical condition of the patient at diagnosis: history of disease, presence of associated conditions (hydrocephalus, cerebral hemorrhage, intracranial hypertension ...), state of consciousness, neurological deficit, motor deficit ...

- This early support, surgery is the treatment of choice in a subarachnoid hemorrhage secondary to an aneurysm. In practical terms, doctors argue that surgical management of less than 48 hours is associated with a favorable outcome and a high survival rate.

- The severity of subarachnoid hemorrhage: it is generally evaluated with several scores, and considers several signs of tolerance in the patient. The subarachnoid hemorrhage and is classified into 4 grades. Grades I and II are more favorable prognosis, with a greater degree of processing, the stages III and IV. In some cases, surgery may be considered.

Subarachnoid hemorrhage and pregnancy ...

After several periods of monitoring changes after treatment of subarachnoid hemorrhage, it is appropriate to speak of his desire pregnancy doctor. He alone is able to advise on the possible risks (from conception to the postpartum period), based on the knowledge of the health of his patient. A neurological and obstetric opinion is important.