Glucose Dynamics of Cortical Spreading Depolarization in Acute Brain Injury: A Systematic Review

Cortical spreading depolarization (CSD) is an emerging mode of secondary neuronal damage in acute brain injury (ABI). Subsequent repolarisation is a metabolic process requiring glucose. Instances of CSD and glucose derangement are both linked to poor neurological outcome, but their causal inter-relationship is not fully defined. This systematic review seeks to evaluate the available human evidence studying CSD and glucose to further understand their dynamic relationship. We conducted a systematic review of studies examining CSD through electrocorticography and cerebral/systemic glucose concentrations in ABI, excluding animal studies. The search yielded 478 articles, of which 13 were eligible. Across 10 manuscripts, 125 patients received simultaneous monitoring, with 1987 CSD episodes observed. Eight of 10 studies observed correlation between CSD and glucose change. Seven of eight studies observed possible cumulative effect of recurrent CSD on glucose derangement and two identified correlation between glycopenia and incidence of CSD. These findings confirm a relationship between CSD and glucose, and suggest it may be cyclical, where CSD causes local glycopenia, which may potentiate further CSD. Positive observations were not common to all studies, likely due to differing methodology or heterogeneity in CSD propensity. Further study is required to delineate the utility of the clinical modulation of serum and cerebral glucose to alter the propensity for CSD following brain injury.