• Panayiotis Varelas, Ann Helms, Grant Sinson, Marianna Spanaki, and Lotfi Hacein-Bey.
• Department of Neurology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA. varelas@neuro.hfh.edu
• Neurocrit Care. 2006 Jan 1;4(3):223-8.

BackgroundHydrocephalus may develop either early in the course of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) or after the first 2 weeks. Because the amount of SAH is a predictor of hydrocephalus, the two available aneurysmal treatments, clipping or coiling, may lead to differences in the need for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) diversion, as only surgery permits clot removal.MethodsHospital and University Hospitals Consortium (UHC) databases were used to retrieve data on all patients admitted to our hospital with aneurysmal SAH during the last 4 years. The incidence of permanent ventricular shunt (VS) according to treatment modality used was evaluated.ResultsOne hundred eighty-eight patients were admitted with aneurysmal SAH. Coiling was performed on 48 (26%) and clipping on 135 (73.8%) patients. Fifty-six (31%) patients required CSF diversion. External ventricular drain was placed in 30 (22.2%) clipped and 13 (27.1%) coiled patients ( p = 0.5 ), and VS in 6 patients of the two treatment groups (4.4 versus 12.5%, respectively; p = 0.08). Patients requiring VS had longer UHC-expected hospital length of stay (LOS), as well as observed ICU and hospital LOS, compared to patients with temporary or no CSF diversion (24 +/- 14 versus 15 +/- 8, 20.5 +/- 9 versus 11 +/- 7, and 30 +/- 13 versus 16 +/- 11 days, respectively; p ConclusionsOne-third of patients admitted with aneurysmal SAH require temporary or permanent CSF diversion. Permanent shunting was found to be associated with coiling in our patient population.

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