PRISMATICS Lab (Predictive Research in Spine/Neuromodulation Management and Thoracic Innovation/Cardiac Surgery), Poitiers University Hospital, 86021 Poitiers, France.
Department of Neuro-Spine & Neuromodulation, Poitiers University Hospital, 86000 Poitiers, France.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 May 16;20(10):5836. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20105836.
Cerebral vasospasm remains the most frequent and devastating complication after subarachnoid aneurysmal hemorrhage because of secondary cerebral ischemia and its sequelae. The underlying pathophysiology involves vasodilator peptide release (such as CGRP) and nitric oxide depletion at the level of the precapillary sphincters of the cerebral (internal carotid artery network) and dural (external carotid artery network) arteries, which are both innervated by craniofacial autonomic afferents and tightly connected to the trigeminal nerve and trigemino-cervical nucleus complex. We hypothesized that trigeminal nerve modulation could influence the cerebral flow of this vascular network through a sympatholytic effect and decrease the occurrence of vasospasm and its consequences. We conducted a prospective double-blind, randomized controlled pilot trial to compare the effect of 10 days of transcutaneous electrical trigeminal nerve stimulation vs. sham stimulation on cerebral infarction occurrence at 3 months. Sixty patients treated for aneurysmal SAH (World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies scale between 1 and 4) were included. We compared the radiological incidence of delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 3 months in moderate and severe vasospasm patients receiving trigeminal nerve stimulation (TNS group) vs. sham stimulation (sham group). Our primary endpoint (the infarction rate at the 3-month follow-up) did not significantly differ between the two groups ( = 0.99). Vasospasm-related infarctions were present in seven patients (23%) in the TNS group and eight patients (27%) in the sham group. Ultimately, we were not able to show that TNS can decrease the rate of cerebral infarction secondary to vasospasm occurrence. As a result, it would be premature to promote trigeminal system neurostimulation in this context. This concept should be the subject of further research.
颅内血管痉挛仍然是蛛网膜下腔出血后最常见和最具破坏性的并发症,因为它会导致继发性脑缺血及其后遗症。其潜在的病理生理学涉及到血管扩张肽的释放(如 CGRP)和一氧化氮耗竭,发生在大脑(颈内动脉网络)和硬脑膜(颈外动脉网络)动脉的毛细血管前括约肌水平,这些动脉都由颅面自主传入神经支配,并与三叉神经和三叉神经-颈核复合体紧密相连。我们假设三叉神经调节可以通过交感神经抑制作用影响这个血管网络的脑血流,从而减少血管痉挛的发生及其后果。我们进行了一项前瞻性、双盲、随机对照的初步试验,比较了 10 天经皮三叉神经电刺激与假刺激对 3 个月时脑梗死发生率的影响。共纳入 60 例接受动脉瘤性蛛网膜下腔出血(世界神经外科学会联合会分级 1 至 4 级)治疗的患者。我们比较了在中重度血管痉挛患者中,接受三叉神经刺激(TNS 组)与假刺激(假刺激组)的磁共振成像(MRI)在 3 个月时延迟性脑缺血(DCI)的放射学发生率。我们的主要终点(3 个月随访时的梗死率)在两组之间没有显著差异(=0.99)。TNS 组有 7 例(23%)患者和假刺激组有 8 例(27%)患者出现与血管痉挛相关的梗死。最终,我们未能证明 TNS 可以降低血管痉挛引起的脑梗死发生率。因此,在这种情况下,促进三叉神经系统神经刺激还为时过早。这一概念应该成为进一步研究的主题。