Ultra-Early Treatment for Poor-Grade Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

It remains unknown if ultra-early (within 24 hours after onset) treatment can improve the prognosis in patients with poor-grade aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH). We aimed to evaluate the effect of ultra-early treatment on functional outcomes and mortality in patients with poor-grade aSAH via a systematic review and meta-analysis. We performed a literature search in the PubMed, MEDLINE, and Web of Science databases. Primary outcomes were death and functional outcome assessed at any time period. Secondary outcomes were the rebleeding rate before an aneurysm occlusion procedure and the incidence of intraoperative technique difficulty (ITD). The results are reported as odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). A total of 14 articles containing 1111 patients met our inclusion criteria and were included in our analysis. The pooled incidence was 47% (95% CI, 40%–54%) for favorable outcome across 13 studies, 26% (95% CI, 19%–32%) for mortality in 11 studies, 10% (95% CI, 3%–16%) for rebleeding in 5 studies, and 20% (95% CI, 10%–31%) for ITD in 5 studies after ultra-early treatment of poor-grade aSAH. Compared with delayed treatment (>24 hours), the ultra-early treatment failed to improve outcomes (OR, 1.23; 95% CI, 0.75–2.01; P = 0.40) or reduce mortality (OR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.58–1.22; P = 0.45), but tended to prevent preoperative rebleeding (OR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.32 to 1.07; P = 0.08) in 6, 4, and 4 case-control studies, respectively. Our findings show no significant change both in functional outcome and mortality between ultra-early and delayed treatment although ultra-early treatment may be associated with lower rebleeding rate.