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. 2013;8(1):e53191.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0053191. Epub 2013 Jan 11.

Copeptin as a marker for severity and prognosis of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage

Affiliations

Copeptin as a marker for severity and prognosis of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage

Christian Fung et al. PLoS One. 2013.

Abstract

Background: Grading of patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) is often confounded by seizure, hydrocephalus or sedation and the prediction of prognosis remains difficult. Recently, copeptin has been identified as a serum marker for outcomes in acute ischemic stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). We investigated whether copeptin might serve as a marker for severity and prognosis in aSAH.

Methods: Eighteen consecutive patients with aSAH had plasma copeptin levels measured with a validated chemiluminescence sandwich immunoassay. The primary endpoint was the association of copeptin levels at admission with the World Federation of Neurological Surgeons (WFNS) grade score after resuscitation. Levels of copeptin were compared across clinical and radiological scores as well as between patients with ICH, intraventricular hemorrhage, hydrocephalus, vasospasm and ischemia.

Results: Copeptin levels were significantly associated with the severity of aSAH measured by WFNS grade (P = 0.006), the amount of subarachnoid blood (P = 0.03) and the occurrence of ICH (P = 0.02). There was also a trend between copeptin levels and functional clinical outcome at 6-months (P = 0.054). No other clinical outcomes showed any statistically significant association.

Conclusions: Copeptin may indicate clinical severity of the initial bleeding and may therefore help in guiding treatment decisions in the setting of aSAH. These initial results show that copeptin might also have prognostic value for clinical outcome in aSAH.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: Marleen Seiler is an employee of Thermo Fisher Scientific. Thermo Scientific B.R.A.H.M.S, Henningsdorf, Germany provided all copeptin assays. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Copeptin Level by WFNS Grade.
The figure represents a boxplot of copeptin values per WFNS grade. Displayed are lowest, highest and median copeptin values (pmol/L), with upper (75%) and lower (25%) quartiles.

References

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