[Hydrocephalus after subarachnoid hemorrhage]

Abstract

Fifty patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) were evaluated, with attention to past history, age, sex, time from the onset of symptoms to hospital admission, etiology of SAH, diagnostic procedures, therapy and outcome. Of these, 16 who showed ventricular dilatation in the CT during their evolution were analyzed. We emphasize the importance of the neurologic evolution of the patient for the consideration of the need of surgical therapy with external drainage of cerebrospinal fluid or definitive shunt. Ten patients required definitive shunt; in 7 of them, SAH had been caused by arterial aneurysm. All had a grade higher than 3 in Hunt and Hess' scale and only one half received fibrinolytic drugs during their treatment.