Cerebral vasospasm in patients over 80 years treated by coil embolization for ruptured cerebral aneurysms

Object. The effect on clinical outcomes of symptomatic vasospasm after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) in patients over 80 years who underwent coil embolization was evaluated. Methods. Forty-four cases were reviewed and divided into two groups according to patient age: Group A, 79 years or younger, and Group B, 80 or older. Patient characteristics, prevalence of symptomatic vasospasm, modified Rankin Scale (mRS) scores at discharge and frequency of symptomatic vasospasm in patients with mRS scores of 3-6 were analyzed. Results. Thirty-two (73%) of the 44 cases were categorized as Group A and 12 (27%) as Group B. Group B had a significantly higher prevalence of symptomatic vasospasm compared to Group A (P = 0.0040). mRS scores at discharge were significantly higher in Group B than in Group A (P = 0.0494). Among cases with mRS scores of 3-6, there was a significantly higher frequency of symptomatic vasospasm in Group B than in Group A (P = 0.0223). Conclusions. In our cohort of aneurysmal SAH patients treated by coil embolization, patients over 80 years of age were more likely to suffer symptomatic vasospasm, which significantly correlated with worse clinical outcomes, than those 79 years and under.