Neurological deterioration under isovolemic hemodilution with hydroxyethyl starch in acute cerebral ischemia.

In a prospective study, we randomly allocated 70 patients with acute ischemic stroke to two therapy groups. Up to interim analysis, 33 patients underwent bloodletting, with simultaneous infusion of an identical volume of hydroxyethyl starch (10%, 200/0.5). The target hematocrit was 35%. A control group of 37 patients did not receive hemodilution. Apart from an unequal sex distribution, the two groups were comparable with regard to age, cardiovascular risk factors, and medical history. In the hemodilution group, the mean hematocrit fell from 44.4% to 37.7%. After 14 days, improvement on the neurological score scale was 3.3 points in the hemodilution group compared with 6.5 points in the control group (p = 0.12). Subgroups with early inclusion (less than 12 hours) or pronounced lowering of hematocrit (greater than 15% of initial hematocrit) also did not profit from hemodilution. Clinical deterioration observed in eight hemodilution group patients (p less than 0.01) led to discontinuation of the study for ethical reasons.