2010 Volume 32 Issue 2 Pages 146-150
Background and Purpose: The effectiveness of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) for prevention of cerebral vasospasm following subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) has been reported; however, the optimal dose is still unknown. We report here the outcome of high dose EPA administration compared with the outcomes of the control group and those treated with a conventional dose.
Methods: Between January 2005 and December 2008, we treated 87 consecutive SAH patients treated with clipping or endovascular coil embolization within 48 hours after onset. Among these 87 patients, 29 patients treated without EPA between January 2005 and August 2006 were classified as the control group. Thirty-one patients treated with 1,800mg of EPA orally or via nasogastric tube between September 2006 and September 2007 were classified as the conventional dose group. Twenty-seven patients treated with 4,400–5,700mg of EPA orally or via nasogastric tube between October 2007 and December 2008 were classified as the high dose group. We compared the rate of angiographic vasospasm and modified Rankin Scale (mRS) at discharge among these groups.
Results: Patients’ characteristics including age, sex, WFNS grade, aneurysmal location and Fisher grade did not show any significant difference between each group. The rate of angiographic vasospasm in the high dose group was significantly lower than that of the conventional dose group (p=0.031). On comparison among the three groups, the proportion of patients showing mRS 0 at discharge was significantly higher in the high dose group (p=0.014).
Conclusions: Although our sampling size was small, this study suggests that the effect of EPA for prevention of vasospasm after SAH is dose dependent.
