Blood Pressure Management of Patients with SAH: A Literature Review

Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW
Blood pressure management of patients with SAH (subarachnoid haemorrhage)
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

LITERATURE REVIEW1
Executive summary
Subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) is an umbrella term that refers to life-threatening kind of
stroke that is generally caused due to bleeding into the region that surrounds the human brain.
SAH can be a direct manifestation of a ruptured aneurysm, or head injury. While several
patients recuperate from the condition, some survive with disability and the rest die. Hence,
the primary aim of treatment is to keep a check on the systolic blood pressure among such
patients. This literature review focused on different blood pressure management techniques
and provided evidence for administration and/or implementation of nimodipine, osmotic
diuretics, neurologic monitoring, ventilatory support, and surgical intervention.

LITERATURE REVIEW2
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Rationale....................................................................................................................................3
Research question.......................................................................................................................4
Search strategy...........................................................................................................................4
Article synthesis.........................................................................................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................11

LITERATURE REVIEW3
Introduction
Also denoted by SAH, subarachnoid haemorrhage refers to bleeding inside the space
that is present between the pia mater and the arachnoid membrane surrounding the human
brain, also referred to as the subarachnoid space. Some common signs and symptoms of SAH
comprise of vomiting, severe headache of fast onset, fever, reduced level of consciousness,
and sometimes seizures. Some of the most common reasons behind the onset of SAH are
trauma that involve a blow to the human head (Teoh et al. 2019). In addition, traumatic SAH
have been identified to occur at the location of skull fracture and/or intracerebral contusion.
The event also occurs among patients who are subjected to cerebral aneurysm that refers to
the presence of weakness at the arterial walls, thus leading to their enlargement. According to
Macdonald and Schweizer (2017) the initial steps that are adopted for assessment of patients
with SAH encompass obtaining detailed medical history and conducting a physical
examination. Furthermore, computed tomography and lumbar puncture are also performed
for SAH diagnosis. This assignment will contain a literature review that will highlight the
strategies that help in effective blood pressure management among SAH patients.
Rationale
Research evidences highlight the fact that surrounded within the firm skull, build-up
of fluid and clotted blood inside the brain results in an increase in blood pressure that
eventually crushes the brain against the cranium and might even bring about shifting or
herniation. Under such circumstances when CSF circulation gets blocked, there occurs
enlargement of the ventricles (hydrocephalus), thus causing lethargy, confusion, and loss of
consciousness (Long et al. 2019). One common complication under such circumstance is
vasospasm that may occur few days after the onset of SAH. Blood by-products generally
result in contraction and subsequent spasm of the walls of the artery, thereby narrowing the