Effect of early operation for ruptured aneurysms on prevention of delayed ischemic symptoms

The effect of removal of subarachnoid blood clots on the prevention of delayed ischemic deficit was evaluated in 239 consecutive patients with ruptured supratentorial non-giant aneurysms. All patients were hospitalized within 24 hours after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and were classified in Grades 1 to 4 according to the system of Hunt and Hess; classification was made immediately preoperatively in patients operated on within 48 hours after SAH, or 48 hours after SAH in patients for whom delayed operation was planned. Delayed ischemic deficit causing permanent disability or death occurred in 11 (25%) of 44 patients in whom surgery was planned to be delayed for 10 days or more, in 26 (27.7%) of 94 patients in whom the aneurysms were obliterated and blood clots adjacent to them were removed within 48 hours of SAH, and in 11 (10.9%) of 101 patients in whom the aneurysms were obliterated and extensive and aggressive removal of thick subarachnoid clots lying along the arteries (identified on computerized tomographic scan) was performed within 48 hours of SAH. Accordingly, early operation is an effective and reliable method to reduce the occurrence of severe delayed ischemic deficit only when subarachnoid blood clots are removed extensively and aggressively along the arteries within 48 hours of SAH.