Background and purpose: We assumed that patients with surgically treated aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) might have more lesions than those revealed by CT that could be visible on MR images.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of a series of 147 patients with aneurysmal SAH who were treated surgically within 3 days of the onset of SAH. One hundred four patients (mean age, 48.8 years) underwent MR imaging studies 2.1 to 5.6 years (mean, 3.3 years) postoperatively.
Results: Eighty-four (81%) patients presented a total of 152 areas of increased signal intensity on T2-weighted images, consistent with infarction; 48% of the patients had lesions in the frontal lobes. CT performed 3 months postoperatively revealed hypodense areas on the scans of only 57% of the patients and showed lesions in the frontal lobes of only 16% of the patients.
Conclusion: Patients who undergo early surgery for aneurysmal SAH have more lesions than are revealed by CT. The difference is remarkable, especially in the frontal lobes.