Early aneurysm operation and outcome in two remote Scandinavian populations.

The Kuopio University Clinic is the neurosurgical referral center for a population of 930,000 inhabitants in central Finland while the Lund University Clinic is the neurosurgical referral center for a population of 1.46 million inhabitants in southern Sweden. The incidence of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is approximately 19/100,000/year in central Finland and approximately five/100,000/year in southern Sweden. During the calendar year 1982, 69 patients with a ruptured supratentorial aneurysm were admitted in Lund, and 71 such patients were admitted in Kuopio. Thirty-nine patients in neurological Grades I to III (according to Hunt and Hess) underwent early aneurysm operation in Lund, and 46 such patients were operated on within a week after SAH in Kuopio. In the combined series of 85 Grade I to III patients with aneurysm operation within a week after rupture, 78% made a good recovery; the morbidity rate was 14%, and the mortality rate was 8%.