Subarachnoid haemorrhage. A critical neurosurgical emergency

Abstract

Subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) accounts for 3% of all strokes and is the cause of 5% of stroke mortality. SAH by rupture of cerebral aneurysm or arterial-venous malformation (AVM) remains the most devastating cerebrovascular disease. During admission for SAH, about 30-70% of patients suffer a rebleed, and from all rebleeds, about 90% lead to death no matter the treatment. Available current scales help predict the prognosis and guide the therapy. Considering that the lifestyle risk factors for SAH are of increasing prevalence, it is expected that it will affect even more people in the future. SAH should not be regarded as a disease but rather a set of events with devastating complications requiring adequate management from debut extending long after patient discharge.