title: The role of lumbar drainage to prevent shunt-dependent hydrocephalus after coil embolization for aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage in good-grade patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the role of lumbar drainage in the prevention of shunt-dependent hydrocephalus after treatment of ruptured intracranial aneurysms by coil embolization in good-grade patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  One-hundred-thirty consecutive patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage in good-grade patients (Hunt & Hess grades I-III), who were treated by coil embolization between August 2004 and April 2010 were retrospectively evaluated. Poor-grade patients (Hunt & Hess grades IV and V), a history of head trauma preceding the development of headache, negative angiograms, primary subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), and loss to follow-up were excluded from the study. We assessed the effects on lumbar drainage on the risk of shunt-dependent hydrocephalus related to coil embolization in patients with ruptured intracranial aneurysms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One-hundred-twenty-six patients (96.9%) did not develop shunt-dependent hydrocephalus. The 2 patients (1.5%) who developed acute hydrocephalus treated with temporary external ventricular drainage did not require permanent shunt diversion. Overall, 4 patients (3.1%) required permanent shunt diversion; acute hydrocephalus developed in 2 patients (50%). There was no morbidity or mortality amongst the patients who underwent a permanent shunt procedure.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Coil embolization of ruptured intracranial aneurysms may be associated with a lower risk for developing shunt-dependent hydrocephalus, possibly by active management of lumbar drainage, which may reflect less damage for cisternal anatomy than surgical clipping. Coil embolization might have an effect the long-term outcome and decision-making for ruptured intracranial aneurysms.
authors: Department of Neurosurgery, College of Medicine, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea.
authors: Cho In
authors: CI
authors: Yong
authors: Sung-Kyun
authors: SK
authors: Hwang
authors: Sung-Hak
authors: SH
authors: Kim