Effectiveness of Nicardipine for Blood Pressure Control in Patients with Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Objective: The purpose of the study is to determine the effectiveness and safety of nicardipine infusion for controlling blood pressure in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Methods: We prospectively evaluated 52 patients with SAH and treated with nicardipine infusion for blood pressure control in a 29 months period. The mean blood pressure of pre-injection, bolus injection and continuous injection period were compared. This study evaluated the effectiveness of nicardipine for each Fisher grade, for different dose of continuous nicardipine infusion, and for the subgroups of systolic blood pressure. Results: The blood pressure measurement showed that the mean systolic blood pressure / diastolic blood pressure (SBP/DBP) in continuous injection pe-riod (120.9/63.0 mmHg) was significantly lower than pre-injection period (145.6/80.3 mmHg) and bolus injection period (134.2/71.3 mmHg), and these were statistically significant (p < 0.001). In each subgroups of Fisher grade and different dose, SBP/DBP also decreased after the use of nicardipine. Thes