Cardiovascular Abnormalities Among Patients with Spontaneous Subarachnoid Hemorrhage. A Single Center Experience

Abstract

Objective: To assess the cardiovascular abnormalities in patients with spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Methods: All patients admitted to our institution with a primary diagnosis of spontaneous SAH and had a transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) performed from 1st of July 2011 until 30th of May 2014 were enrolled. Results: Out of 2058 patients admitted to our institution with a diagnosis of SAH, over a three year period, only 244 patients (12%) had TTE performed during the index hospitalization. In this selected cohort, the mean age was 59 years and 66% of patients were female. Elevated troponin T was noticed in 37% of patients and QTc prolongation was the commonest ECG abnormality occurring in 49% of the patients. Thirty nine patients (16%) had a resting segmental wall motion abnormality on the TTE, including five patients with apical ballooning. In-hospital mortality was 15.6% (38 patients). Conclusion: Cardiovascular abnormalities in selected patients with SAH who had cardiac ultrasound are relatively common; however the incidence of ventricular ballooning is low. In order to attain the correct incidence of cardiovascular abnormalities in SAH patients, all patients admitted with SAH should undergo TTE and have ECG and cardiac markers checked during their hospitalization.