Quality of life and outcome after treatment of ruptured cerebral aneurysms: results of a single center in Switzerland.

Object: To evaluate the subjective outcome and quality of life (QoL) of patients who suffered from aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage and underwent endovascular coiling or microsurgical clipping in a single center.

Methods: For this retrospective single-center study, we included patients who underwent aneurysm occlusion at the Cantonal Hospital of Aarau between January 2000 and December 2006. The QoL, the functional status, and the level of independence were assessed by means of the Short Form (SF)-12 Health Survey, the modified Rankin Scale (mRS), and the Barthel Index. The questionnaires were sent to and completed by the patients. A total of 104 patients with a mean age of 53.14 years (range, 18-80 years) were included in the study. In 63 (60.6 %) of the cases, the aneurysm was clipped; in 41 (39.4 %) of the cases, endovascular coiling was performed.

Results: The SF-12 scores for the PCS (Physical Component Summary) and MCS (Mental Component Summary) were similar for both clipped (PCS 45.35; MCS 46.55) and coiled (PCS 46.31; MCS 47.87) patients. The mean values were, on average, 4.17 points lower for the PCS and 2.79 points lower for the MCS when compared with the mean of the US population, with a mean of 50 (standard deviation (SD) 10). The mean Barthel Index for the entire group was 92.26 (SD 16.8) and was almost identical for both the clipped (92.54; SD 16.21) and coiled (91.83; SD 17.9) patients (p = 0.56). The mean mRS did not differ between the coiled and clipped patients (coiled 1.63; clipped 1.56; p = 0.97) CONCLUSIONS: There were no significant differences in the functional and mental health scores between the two groups of clipped and coiled patients who were treated at our center, but both groups were lower than population-based scores. Although the neurologic condition and the imaging results on admission were worse in the coiled group, the long-term results did not differ significantly.