Acute cardiopulmonary effects of subarachnoid hemorrhage in monkeys

Twenty-eight cynomolgus monkeys had an autologous subarachnoid blood clot placed in the basal cisternae via craniectomy. Twenty-three monkeys survived clot placement and five animals died within 24 h. An additional eight monkeys underwent sham procedures and six acted as anesthetic controls. Cardiopulmonary indices were measured before clot placement and 30 to 60 min thereafter, to determine if certain changes had prognostic value for immediate outcome. In the 24-h survivors, heart rate and arteriovenous oxygen content difference increased significantly (p < .05 and .01, respectively), while stroke index (SI) (p < .01), mean pulmonary artery pressure (p < .001), pulmonary artery wedge pressure (p < .001), and central venous pressure (p < .05) fell. In the 24-h nonsurvivors, cardiac index (CI) (p < .05) and SI (p < .01) fell to an even greater extent than in the survivors. There was a significant (p < .05) difference between the two groups for CI and SI. There were no significant differences in the sham-operated animals. In six control monkeys, neither heart rate nor CI significantly increased throughout 5 h of anesthesia.