[Effect of high dose nicardipine in patients with ruptured cerebral aneurysm]

We studied the effect of high dose nicardipine in patients with ruptured cerebral aneurysm. Seventeen patients were treated with intravenous infusion of nicardipine, 23.0-124.4 mg/day, for 15 days, which was started within 72 hours after onset of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Aneurysmal neck was clipped within 96 hours after SAH. Five patients were excluded because of discontinuation of treatment due to hypotension and intra- or postoperative complication. Among the 12 patients, symptomatic vasospasm was observed in 6, and one of them had a permanent deficit. Severe angiographic vasospasm was observed in 3 patients, but two of them did not show symptomatic vasospasm. From this study we can't draw any conclusion about effect of nicardipine on prevention of symptomatic and angiographic vasospasm after SAH, because of small number of cases.