IS THERE A DIFFERENCE IN COGNITIVE DEFICITS AFTER ANEURYSMAL SUBARACHNOID HEMORRHAGE AND SUBARACHNOID HEMORRHAGE OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN

In a retrospective follow-up study 38 patients with aneurysmal subarac hnoid haemorrhage (SAH) and 20 patients without an angiographically pr oven source of SAH were tested neuropsychologically one to five years after the acute event. All patients were operated on early within 72 h ours if an aneursym was proven angiographically and all were treated w ith nimodipine. Both patient groups had comparable cognitive deficits in spite of the less severe SAH of non-aneurysmal origin. Only in two cognitive functions the groups differed significantly. The patients af ter non-aneurysmal SAH had a significantly lower mean in the IQ subtes t similarities finding (p < 0.05), while the patients after aneurysmal SAH had a significantly lower mean in a test of visual cognition (p < 0.05). A more detailed analysis with clinically homogenous subgroups was additionally performed. The results showed in the subgroup with po or clinical grades that patients with aneurysmal SAH were significantl y more disturbed in focal cognitive functions like short- and long-ter m memory and word-finding capacity, while patients with SAH of unknown origin scored significantly worse in a neuropsychological test relate d to attention, which can be regarded as a more diffuse cognitive func tion.