Global Cerebral Edema and Brain Metabolism After Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Background and Purpose—Global cerebral edema is common among patients with poor-grade subarachnoid hemorrhage and is associated with poor outcome. Currently no targeted therapy exists largely due to an incomplete understanding of the underlying mechanisms. Methods—This is a prospective observational study including 39 consecutive patients with poor-grade subarachnoid hemorrhage with multimodal neuromonitoring. Levels of microdialysate lactate–pyruvate ratio, episodes of cerebral metabolic crisis (lactate-pyruvate ratio >40 and brain glucose <0.7 mmol/L), brain tissue oxygen tension, cerebral perfusion pressure, and transcranial Doppler sonography flow velocities were analyzed. Results—Median age was 54 years (range, 45 to 61 years) and 62% were female. Patients with global cerebral edema on admission (n=24 [62%]) had a higher incidence of metabolic crisis in the first 12 hours of monitoring (n=15 [15% versus 2%], P<0.05) and during the total time of neuromonitoring (20% versus 3%, P<0.001) when compared t...