Cerebral vasospasm and ruptured intracranial aneurysm.

The literature concerning cerebral vasospasm associated with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) due to ruptured intracranial aneurysm contains no definitive study of patients to determine whether there is (1) any clinical picture consistently present coincident with known cerebral vasospasm, (2) any relationship between mortality and known vasospasm, and (3) any relationship between serious brain damage (morbidity) and known vasospasm. To answer these important questions, experience with 198 consecutive acute SAH patients (every patient had a cerebral angiogram demonstrating one or more intracranial aneurysms) was studied. The experience with these 198 consecutive patients led to the conclusions that (1) there is no clinical picture consistently present coincident with known cerebral vasospasm; (2) cerebral vasospasm has no effect on the mortality from SAH due to ruptured aneurysm; and (3) there is no relationship between the frequency and severity of the complications from surgical or conservative treatment and the presence or absence of vasospasm.