The role of erythropoietin in aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage: from bench to bedside.

Subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) caused by a ruptured aneurysm accounts for only 5% of strokes, but occurs at a fairly young age and carries a poor prognosis. Delayed cerebral ischaemia (DCI) is an important cause of death and dependence after aneurysmal SAH. The current mainstay of preventing DCI is nimodipine and maintenance of normovolemia, but even with this strategy DCI occurs in a considerable proportion of patients. Several drugs have been developed that have the potential to limit cerebral vasospasm and delayed ischaemic neurologic defi cit, thus improving outcome for patients. However, although numerous agents can prevent arterial narrowing and/or block the excitatory cascade of even…