The Effect of Antifibrinolytic Therapy During Acute Period Following Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Lim, Young Jin; Park, Moon Sun; Kim, Tae Sung; Kim, Gook Ki; Rhee, Bong Arm; Leem, Won

Abstract

The presnt study was carried out to find out any difference in terms of the rate of rebleeding, mortality and of the occurrence of vasopasm and hydrocephalus between the two groups of patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage : a group of 225 cases which were administered with epsilon aminocaproic acid(EACA) (antifibrinolytic agent) and the other a group of 221 cases without EACA treatment. Both groups were chosen from 476 patients admitted to the Department of Neurosurgery, Kyung-Hee University Medical Center within 7 days after the onset of subarachnoid hemorrhage during a period from January 1982 to December 1987. The clinical observation was done during acute period following subarachnoid hemorrhage. The major findings obtained were as follows : 1) The occurrence of rebleeding was higher within 3 days after the onset of subarachnoid hemorrhage. The rate of rebleeding was 8.4% in treated group whereas the rate was 13.1% in control group. This may suggest that administration of EACA is effective to prevent rebleeding. 2) the occurrence of vasopasm was higher within on the 7th and 8th day after the onset of subarachnoid hemorrhage. The rate of vasospasm was 28.9% in treated group whereas the rate was 12.4% in control group. This means that the rate of occurrence of vasospasm was two times higer in EACA treated group. 3) the rate of occurrence of hydrocephalus was 18.3% in treated group whereas the rate lower in control group(11.6%). 4) Within-two-weeks mortality and within-one-month mortality were 14.7% and 22.2% respectively in treated group whereas the two rates in control group were 15.1% and 24.1% respectively. No significant difference between the two groups was observed. 5) The causes of death in treated group were found to be vasospasm(55.5%) and rebleeding(28.0%) in order, whereas in control group the causes of deaths were rebleeding(40.2%) and vasospasm(21.3%). In other words, the main cause of death was vasospasm in treated and that in control group was rebleeding.