[Symptomatic vasospasm. Clinical manifestations].

INTRODUCTION

Symptomatic vasospasm in the setting of a subarachnoid hemorrhage is a complication of difficult diagnosis in some clinical situations. Objectives. Describe the clinical characteristics of cerebral vasospasm demonstrated by neurovascular studies in patients with ruptured saccular aneurysm.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

19 consecutive patients with symptomatic vasospasm, evaluated with TCD and any variant of neurovascular study with contrast injection. All these cases were in degrees between 1 and 3 of the World Federation of Neurological Surgeons Scale.

RESULTS

The cognitive and behavioral manifestations were the most frequent (53%), followed by neurological focal deficits (26%). Clinical vasospasm occurred most frequently between day 9 and 10. Vasospasm is predominant in the arteries of the anterior circulation. The high mortality (42%) and the antecedent of arterial hypertension characterized the group with symptomatic vasospasm. There was no statistical relationship between the result of the scale of Fisher and the symptomatic vasospasm. All the TCD parameters had statistical significance.

CONCLUSIONS

The clinical manifestations more frequently associated with symptomatic vasospasm were cognitive and behavioral. This group of patients is characterized by a high mortality. The TCD is a test of great value to predict cerebral ischemia due to vasospasm.