Prognostic factors of the neurobehavioral late result after SAH

Abstract

Vilkki et al. (1990) investigated 83 patients one year after aneurysm rupture. Incomplete neurological recovery went along with impairments in verbal memory and increased cognitive inflexibility (Vilkki et al., 1990). Mercier et al. (1991) found that the neuropsychological result after discharge from hospital reliably predicted the patients, later ability to resume work. In the study by Hutter and Gilsbach (1993), a significant effect of patient age at the time of SAH emerged. At an age range of 25–67 years, older patients presented with a significantly worse concentration capacity, a poorer short-term memory and a decreased information capacity in spite of age-corrected test scores (Hutter and Gilsbach, 1993). Comparable results regarding an unfavorable prognostic effect of higher age on the neuropsychological late result after SAH were also reported by Bornstein et al. (1987). In a stepwise regression analysis with the number of cognitive deficits as factor, Hardemark et al. (1989) found that patient age at the time of SAH and the initial clinical state after Hunt and Hess were included as the exclusive predictors of later cognitive impairment.