Association of Arterial Metabolic Content with Cerebral Blood Flow Regulation and Cerebral Energy Metabolism-A Multimodality Analysis in Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Patients With

This study compared the roles of extraparenchymal autonomic nervous system (ANS) control of cerebral blood flow (CBF) versus intraparenchymal cerebrovascular autoregulation in 487 patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and 413 patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Vasomotion intensity of extraparenchymal and intraparenchymal vessels were quantified as the amplitude of oscillations of arterial blood pressure (ABP) and intracranial pressure (ICP) in the very low frequency range of 0.02-0.07 Hz, or periods of 55-15 sec, computed with a bandpass filter. A version of the pressure reactivity index (PRx-55-15) was computed as the correlation of the filtered waveforms, ABP-55-15 and ICP-55-15. Since ABP-55-15 is measured in the radial artery, any influence of cerebral factors must be mediated by the ANS. ICP-55-15 is measured in the brain and is influenced by intraparenchymal chemical and metabolic factors in addition to the ANS. Patient outcome was assessed using the Extended Glasgow Outcome Score (GOSe). Ten-day mean cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) was negatively correlated with GOSe in the TBI cohort (R = -0.13, p = 0.01) but positively correlated with GOSe in the SAH cohort, (R = 0.32, p < 0.00001), indicating a much greater dependence on ANS support in the form of elevated CPP in SAH. The optimal CPP range for TBI was 60-70 mmHg, but for SAH it was 110-120 mmHg. The percentage of monitoring time with PRx-55-15 < 0.8, indicating very pressure-active cerebral vessels that resist ANS influence via systemic ABP, is positively correlated with GOSe in the TBI cohort (R = 0.14, p = 0.003), but negatively correlated with GOSe in the SAH cohort (R = -0.10, p = 0.004). The TBI cohort optimal PRx-55-15 for patient outcome was -1.0, while the SAH optimum was 0.3. For the TBI cohort, the correlation of ABP-55-15 amplitude with 10-day mean ICP-55-15 amplitude was 0.29. For the SAH cohort the correlation was 0.51, which is stronger (p = 0.0001). The TBI cohort had a median GOSe of 5 (interquartile range [IQR] 3-7), while SAH had a median of 3 (IQR 3-5), which is worse (p < 0.00001). The higher optimal CPP in patients with SAH, more passive optimal pressure reactivity, and greater dependence of cerebral on systemic vasomotion indicate that they require more active support by the ANS and systemic circulation for CBF than patients with TBI. CBF in patients with TBI is more reliant on cerebrovascular autoregulation based on metabolic demand. This appears to be deficient following SAH, making the heightened ANS support necessary. Although this support is beneficial, it does not fully compensate for the loss of cerebrovascular autoregulation, as reflected in the problems in the SAH cohort with delayed cerebral ischemia and poor outcome.

Temperature Changes in Poor-Grade Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: Relation to Injury Pattern, Intracranial Pressure Dynamics, Cerebral Energy Metabolism, and Clinical Outcome

BACKGROUND

The aim was to study the course of body temperature in the acute phase of poor-grade aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) in relation to the primary brain injury, cerebral physiology, and clinical outcome.

METHODS

In this observational study, 166 patients with aSAH treated at the neurosurgery department at Uppsala University Hospital in Sweden between 2008 and2018 with temperature, intracranial pressure (ICP), and microdialysis (MD) monitoring were included. The first 10 days were divided into the early phase (days 1-3) and the vasospasm phase (days 4-10).

RESULTS

Normothermia (temperature = 36-38 °C) was most prevalent in the early phase. A lower mean temperature at this stage was univariately associated with a worse primary brain injury, with higher Fisher grade and higher MD glycerol concentration, as well as a worse neurological recovery at 1 year. There was otherwise no association between temperature and cerebral physiological variables in the early phase. There was a transition toward an increased burden of hyperthermia (temperature > 38 °C) in the vasospasm phase. This was associated with concurrent infections but not with neurological or radiological injury severity at admission. Elevated temperature was associated with higher MD pyruvate concentration, lower rate of an MD pattern indicative of ischemia, and higher rate of poor neurological recovery at 1 year. There was otherwise no association between temperature and cerebral physiological variables in the vasospasm phase. The associations between temperature and clinical outcome did not hold true in multiple logistic regression analyses.

CONCLUSIONS

Spontaneously low temperature in the early phase reflected a worse primary brain injury and indicated a worse outcome prognosis. Hyperthermia was common in the vasospasm phase and was more related to infections than primary injury severity but also with a more favorable energy metabolic pattern with better substrate supply, possibly related to hyperemia.

Fine tuning of neurointensive care in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: From one-size-fits-all towards individualized care

Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) is a severe type of acute brain injury with high mortality and burden of neurological sequelae. General management aims at early aneurysm occlusion to prevent re-bleeding, cerebrospinal fluid drainage in case of increased intracranial pressure and/or acute hydrocephalus, and cerebral blood flow augmentation in case of delayed ischemic neurological deficits. In addition, the brain is vulnerable to physiological insults in the acute phase and neurointensive care (NIC) is important to optimize the cerebral physiology to avoid secondary brain injury. NIC has led to significantly better neurological recovery following aSAH, but there is still great room for further improvements. First, current aSAH NIC management protocols are to some extent extrapolated from those in traumatic brain injury, notwithstanding important disease-specific differences. Second, the same NIC management protocols are applied to all aSAH patients, despite great patient heterogeneity. Third, the main variables of interest, intracranial pressure and cerebral perfusion pressure, may be too superficial to fully detect and treat several important pathomechanisms. Fourth, there is a lack of understanding not only regarding physiological, but also cellular and molecular pathomechanisms and there is a need to better monitor and treat these processes. This narrative review aims to discuss current state-of-the-art NIC of aSAH, knowledge gaps in the field, and future directions towards a more individualized care in the future.

Cerebral Blood Flow and Oxygen Delivery in Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: Relation to Neurointensive Care Targets

Background

The primary aim was to determine to what extent continuously monitored neurointensive care unit (neuro-ICU) targets predict cerebral blood flow (CBF) and delivery of oxygen (CDO₂) after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. The secondary aim was to determine whether CBF and CDO₂ were associated with clinical outcome.

Methods

In this observational study, patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage treated at the neuro-ICU in Uppsala, Sweden, from 2012 to 2020 with at least one xenon-enhanced computed tomography (Xe-CT) obtained within the first 14 days post ictus were included. CBF was measured with the Xe-CT and CDO₂ was calculated based on CBF and arterial oxygen content. Regional cerebral hypoperfusion was defined as CBF < 20 mL/100 g/min, and poor CDO₂ was defined as CDO₂ < 3.8 mL O₂/100 g/min. Neuro-ICU variables including intracranial pressure (ICP), pressure reactivity index, cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP), optimal CPP, and body temperature were assessed in association with the Xe-CT. The acute phase was divided into early phase (day 1–3) and vasospasm phase (day 4–14).

Results

Of 148 patients, 27 had underwent a Xe-CT only in the early phase, 74 only in the vasospasm phase, and 47 patients in both phases. The patients exhibited cerebral hypoperfusion and poor CDO₂ for medians of 15% and 30%, respectively, of the cortical brain areas in each patient. In multiple regressions, higher body temperature was associated with higher CBF and CDO₂ in the early phase. In a similar regression for the vasospasm phase, younger age and longer pulse transit time (lower peripheral resistance) correlated with higher CBF and CDO₂, whereas lower hematocrit only correlated with higher CBF but not with CDO₂. ICP, CPP, and pressure reactivity index exhibited no independent association with CBF and CDO₂. R² of these regressions were below 0.3. Lower CBF and CDO₂ in the early phase correlated with poor outcome, but this only held true for CDO₂ in multiple regressions.

Conclusions

Systemic and cerebral physiological variables exhibited a modest association with CBF and CDO₂. Still, cerebral hypoperfusion and low CDO₂ were common and low CDO₂ was associated with poor outcome. Xe-CT imaging could be useful to help detect secondary brain injury not evident by high ICP and low CPP.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12028-022-01496-1.