Intraventricular hemorrhage is associated with early hydrocephalus, symptomatic vasospasm, and poor outcome in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.

OBJECTIVE

We hypothesized that the subset of patients with early hydrocephalus following aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage may represent a subset of patients with a more vehement inflammatory reaction to blood products in the subarachnoid space. We thus examined risk factors for early hydrocephalus and examined the relationship between early hydrocephalus and symptomatic vasospasm as well as clinical outcome.

METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed all patients presenting to our institution with subarachnoid hemorrhage over a 7-year period. We examined for risk factors, including early hydrocephalus, for poor clinical outcome and symptomatic vasospasm.

RESULTS

We found intraventricular hemorrhage to be strongly associated with the development of early hydrocephalus. In univariate analysis, early hydrocephalus was strongly associated with both poor functional outcome and symptomatic vasospasm. In multivariate analysis, intraventricular hemorrhage and tobacco use were associated with symptomatic vasospasm; intraventricular hemorrhage, intraparenchymal hemorrhage, and symptomatic vasospasm were associated with poor functional outcome.

CONCLUSIONS

We found that intraventricular hemorrhage was strongly associated with early hydrocephalus. Further exploration of the mechanistic explanation is needed, but we suggest this may be from a combination of obstruction of cerebrospinal fluid pathways by blood products and inflammation in the choroid plexus resulting in increased cerebrospinal fluid production. Further, we suggest that both early hydrocephalus and cerebral vasospasm may be parts of the overall inflammatory cascade that occurs with intraventricular hemorrhage and ultimately results in a poorer clinical outcome.