Background: The postoperative metabolic states of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) patients were investigated using indirect calorimetry (IDC) and various nutritional evaluations to establish any difference in perioperative metabolic and nutritional states between microsurgical and endovascular treatment.
Methods: This study included 30 acute aneurysmal SAH patients with ruptured intracranial aneurysms treated by surgical clipping (n = 16) or coil embolization (n = 14) at a single institute. The resting energy expenditure (REE) and respiratory quotient were measured using IDC on days 1, 4, 7, 10, 14, and 17-21 after the operation. Various blood tests, including C-reactive protein (CRP) and prealbumin, were evaluated on the same days.
Results: The clipping group showed a significant increase in REE/basal energy expenditure (BEE) compared with the coiling group on days 1 and 4 (p = 0.04 and 0.03, respectively). No significant differences were found on days 7, 10, 14, and 17-21. The mean REE/BEE on days 1-14 and 1-21 showed no significant differences between the groups with repeated measures analysis of variance. The clipping group showed a significant decrease of prealbumin on day 4 and significant increase in CRP on days 1, 4, and 7.
Conclusions: The clipping group was in the hypermetabolic state compared with the coiling group during the very early postoperative period. However, the difference associated with the treatment modality was relatively small compared to the effects of the SAH and of the sequelae.
Keywords: Indirect calorimetry; Resting energy expenditure; Subarachnoid hemorrhage.