Treatment of Cerebral Vasospasm with Hypervolemia and Hypertension

Abstract

The term “cerebral vasospasm” is variously defined. Nowadays, the clinically used term stands for the delayed onset of a neurological deficit following subarachnoid hemorrhage, thought to be due to ischemia. There have been many attempts to prevent or treat cerebral vasospasm. The introduction of calcium channel blocking agents, such as nimodipine, has, however, also failed to completely abolish this complication. Cerebral vasospasm remains a challenging clinical problem. It remains the most important cause for mortality and morbidity of respective patients. The best current approach to treat vasospasm is to increase blood volume and to elevate blood pressure [1, 4–6].