Delayed hospital admission of patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: clinical presentation, treatment strategies, and outcome

OBJECTIVE: Timely aneurysm occlusion and neurointensive care treatment are key principles in the management of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) to prevent secondary brain injury. Patients with early (EHA) and delayed hospital admission (DHA) were compared in terms of clinical presentation, treatment strategies, aSAH-related complications, and outcome. METHODS: In this retrospective study, consecutive aSAH patients were treated at a single neurovascular center between 2009 and 2019. Propensity score matching was performed to account for divergent baseline characteristics. RESULTS: Among 509 included patients, 55 were admitted more than 48 hours after ictus (DHA group). DHA patients were significantly younger (52 ± 11 vs 56 ± 14 years, p = 0.03) and had lower World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies scores (p < 0.01) than EHA patients. In 54.5% of the cases, DHA patients presented with neurological deterioration or aggravated symptoms. Propensity score matching revealed a higher vasospastic infarction rate in the DHA group (41.5%) than in the EHA group (22.6%) (p = 0.04). A similar portion of patients in both groups achieved favorable outcome at midterm follow-up (77.3% vs 73.6%, p = 0.87). DHA patients (62.3%) received conventional coiling more often than EHA patients (41.5%) (p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: DHA patients are at an increased risk of cerebral infarction. Nevertheless, state-of-the-art neurointensive care treatment can result in a good clinical outcome.