• Clément Isola, Jean-Noel Evain, Gilles Francony, Caroline Baud, Anne Millet, Amélie Desrumaux, Isabelle Wroblewski, Jean-Francois Payen, and Guillaume Mortamet.
• Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Grenoble Alpes University Hospital, Grenoble Alpes University, Grenoble, 3800, France.
• Neurocrit Care. 2022 Jun 1; 36 (3): 868-875.

BackgroundThe present study explores the frequency, diagnostic approach, and therapeutic management of cerebral vasospasm in a cohort of children with moderate-to-severe traumatic and nontraumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH).MethodsThis was a single-center retrospective study performed over a 10-year period, from January 2010 to December 2019. Children aged from one month to 18 years who were admitted to the pediatric or adult intensive care unit with a diagnosis of SAH were eligible. Cerebral vasospasm could be suspected by clinical signs or transcranial Doppler (TCD) criteria (mean blood flow velocity > 120 cm/s or an increase in mean blood flow velocity by > 50 cm/s within 24 h) and then confirmed on cerebral imaging (with a reduction to less than 50% of the caliber of the cerebral artery).ResultsEighty patients aged 8.6 years (3.3-14.8 years, 25-75th centiles) were admitted with an initial Glasgow Coma Scale score of 8 (4-12). SAH was nontraumatic in 21 (26%) patients. A total of 14/80 patients (18%) developed cerebral vasospasm on brain imaging on day 6 (5-10) after admission, with a predominance of nontraumatic SAH (12/14). The diagnosis of cerebral vasospasm was suspected on clinical signs and/or significant temporal changes in TCD monitoring (7 patients) and then confirmed on cerebral imaging. Thirteen of 14 patients with vasospasm were successfully treated using a continuous intravenous infusion of milrinone. The Pediatric Cerebral Performance Category score at discharge from the intensive care unit was comparable between children with vasospasm (score of 2 [1-4]) vs. children without vasospasm (score of 4 [2-4]) (p = 0.09).ConclusionsThese findings indicate that cerebral vasospasm exists in pediatrics, particularly after nontraumatic SAH. The use of TCD and milrinone may help in the diagnostic and therapeutic management of cerebral vasospasm.© 2021. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature and Neurocritical Care Society.

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