BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate the value of measurement of colloid osmotic pressure (COP) directly concerned with cerebral vasospasm following subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). MATERIAL/METHODS: The subjects were 20 patients who received clipping operation within 48 hours after onset. We conducted a two weeks monitoring of COP measured directly by osmometer and evaluated serum concentrations of albumin at the same time. We divided the patients into Group A (angiographical vasospasm +) and Group B (spasm -) according to the angiographical findings. The differences of the data between the groups were analyzed by ANOVA test (p<0.05). Furthermore, the correlations between the serum concentrations of albumin and COP levels were estimated. RESULTS: Vasospasm was angiographically confirmed in 10 of the 20 patients. Significant decrease of COP levels was observed from day 7 until day 11 and significant decrease of albumin was observed on day 6 and from day 8 until day 11 in the Group A. We did not observe any significant change of COP and albumin levels in the Group B. A liner analysis was performed and a significant correlation was determined between the COP levels and albumin in the Group A, but we did not observe significant correlation between them in the Group B. CONCLUSIONS: These results showed that a significant decrease of COP levels indicate the occurrence of cerebral vasospasm. We concluded that COP measurement could be a useful monitor of the occurrence of vasospasm following SAH.

Keywords: Aged, 80 and over, Blood Pressure, Osmotic Pressure, Postoperative Period, Predictive Value of Tests, Serum Albumin - metabolism, Statistics, Subarachnoid Hemorrhage - complications, Subarachnoid Hemorrhage - surgery, Vasospasm, Intracranial - diagnosis, Vasospasm, Intracranial - etiology, Vasospasm, Intracranial - physiopathology