Ventriculostomies in SAH: ICP Open or Not?

There are no interventions specific to this observational study. The nurses and physicians who care for subjects in the study are already competent in the care and management of patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring as a requirement of their current employment at Duke University. Patients with confirmed diagnosis of subarachnoid hemorrhage requiring ICP and CSF management will be admitted to the 16 bed Neurocritical Care Unit (NCCU) at Duke Hospital. After admission procedures and a baseline neurologic assessment are complete, the charge nurse or NCCU fellow will notify an investigator of subjects meeting inclusion criteria. The investigator or research coordinator for this project will complete a review preparatory to research (RPR) to ensure no exclusion criteria are present and once subject appropriateness has been confirmed patients and their families will be introduced to the investigator for the purpose of obtaining informed consent. The subject's legally authorized representative (LAR) will be informed of the study's purpose, risks and benefits, and the rights of research subjects.

Data will be collected that reflects the duration of the patient's hospitalization at Duke University through chart abstraction. The study period will be defined as admission to discharge. The attending physician has, and will continue to, determine the appropriateness of the duration of ICP monitoring, NCCU discharge criteria and hospital discharge criteria. Chart abstraction will be completed daily to obtain the ICP values and CSF volumes during that period of time for which the patient has a ventriculostomy.

Inclusion criteria

• Clinical diagnosis of subarachnoid hemorrhage
• Age 18 years or older
• Ventriculostomy in situ

Exclusion criteria

• Prisoners
• Glasgow coma score = 3