Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Clinical Trials

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate efficacy and safety of evacuation of cerebrospinal fluid, blood, and harmful bacteria from the intraventricular, subdural and subarachnoid spaces by Active Controlled Irrigation and Drainage (IRRAflow) compared to Passive External Ventricular Drainage (EVD). Subjects with intraventricular hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, subdural bleeding, and ventriculitis will be randomized to receive the IRRAflow device or EVD device and followed for one month post-procedure to compare outcomes between the subject groups. Read Less

Background: While the intensive care of patients with life-threatening brain illnesses has advanced tremendously, a large number of therapies are still without proper scientific support. This can be partly explained by the fact that mechanisms of initial brain injury are still not well understood. Why additional neurological injury occurs during a patient's stay in the NeuroCritical Care Unit (NCCU) despite current best, evidence-based clinical practices, is also not well understood. However, over the past decade, better tools have become available to measure and monitor the impact of our clinical care on the rapidly changing physiology and chemistry of the injured brain. Some of these tools are CT, MRI, ultrasound, and catheter-based technology measuring blood flow and metabolism. These tools have enabled earlier detection of injury and complications and newer therapeutic strategies. Purpose: Examine disease pathways common to all brain injuries seen in the University of Maryland's 22-bed NCCU. Life-threatening neurological illnesses cared for in the NCCU include massive stroke, bleeding in and around the brain (subarachnoid hemorrhage, intracerebral hemorrhage, subdural hemorrhage, intraventricular hemorrhage), brain tumors, difficult to control seizures, neurologic infections, nerve and muscle diseases (such as myasthenia gravis or Guillain-Barre Syndrome), and spinal cord disorders among others. Many NCCU patients are comatose or paralyzed and may suffer injuries in other parts of the body as well. This effort will require the creation of a robust clinical database for the capture of data including patient characteristics (age, sex), clinical characteristics, medical treatments, surgical interventions, physiological data (such as vital signs, cerebral blood flow, intracranial pressure, cerebral oximetry, etc), laboratory data, and standard-of-care diagnostic studies such as electroencephalography (EEG), ultrasound, CT, MRI, and angiograms. Similar databases exist at other major centers for neurocritical care and have been instrumental to the identification of characteristics both predictive of and associated with outcomes of patients long after their stay in the NCCU. In addition, the samples collected will be included in the University of Maryland Medicine (UMM) Biorepository which is a shared resource to enable biomedical research by University of Maryland faculty. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to examine the safety and feasibility of using hyperpolarized metabolic MRI to study early brain metabolism changes in subjects presenting with head injury and suspected non-penetrating traumatic brain injury (TBI). This study will also compare HP pyruvate MRI-derived metrics in TBI patients with healthy subjects as well as Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) patients to better understand if metabolic Magnetic resonance imaging scan (MRI) can improve our ability to diagnose a TBI. The FDA is allowing the use of hyperpolarized \[1-13C\] pyruvate (HP 13C-pyruvate) in this study. Up to 15 patients (5 with TBI, 5 with SAH, and 5 healthy volunteers) may take part in this study at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB). Read Less

The Stroke Recovery Initiative is a nation-wide participant recruitment registry that connects people who have had a stroke with researchers who are working to develop new approaches to improve recovery after stroke. Read Less

Vasospasm is a common complication after rupture of intracranial aneurysms causing devastating neurologic deficits and death. Vasospasm has been directly associated with the amount of subarachnoid blood inside the basal cisterns. Prior literature has attempted to refine treatment of ruptured intracranial aneurysms but does not have clear guidelines on the optimal method to drain subarachnoid blood. Two methods, extraventricular drain (EVD) and lumbar drain (LD) have been compared retrospectively yet remain controversial as to which method is optimal in reducing subarachnoid blood and preventing vasospasm. This study would be a prospective randomized trial in which patients would be assigned to EVD or LD and observed to see if one method of intervention is associated with preventing clinical vasospasm, decreasing subarachnoid blood, shortening overall ICU stay, and reducing the need for a permanent ventriculoperitoneal shunt. The conclusions of this study may identify an optimal treatment modality to benefit all future patients with ruptured intracranial aneurysms. Read Less

Surges in the sympathetic nervous system occur at the ictus of a variety of neurological critical illnesses including intracranial hemorrhage and ischemic stroke. It is hypothesized that these exaggerated increases in sympathetic nervous activity produce maladaptations that promote secondary brain injury. One of these possible mechanisms include diffuse vasospasm that cause cerebral ischemia. Hence, methods to abrogate the sympathetic nervous system in this context are under active investigation. One possible method is the regional anesthesia technique of the stellate ganglion nerve block, which is ordinarily used for complex regional pain syndrome, but has been shown to reduce cerebral sympathetic activity and reduces vasospasm in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage. However, its effect on the microcirculation is not clear. Hence, we propose to study patients receiving the stellate ganglion nerve block as part of their standard medical care and to image their retinal microcirculation before and after the procedure using Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCTA). Read Less

Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCTA) is a non-invasive tool that images the neurovascular structures of the eye by using near-infrared light. Previous literature has demonstrated the potential of OCTA as a screening tool in stroke, but its utility in other neurological illness such as intracranial hemorrhage is unclear. Hence, this pilot study will gather preliminary data to support future grant applications to investigate this area more fully by recruiting patients with neurological illness and healthy controls and comparing their OCTA imaging parameters. Read Less

This study will evaluate whether non-invasive auricular vagal nerve stimulation lowers inflammatory markers, and improves outcomes following spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage. Read Less

This is an observational study in neurocritical care units at University of California San Francisco Medical Center (UCSFMC), Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFGH), UC Davis, and Emory University. In this study, the investigators will primarily use the monitor mode of the Transcranial Doppler (TCD, non-invasive FDA approved device) to record cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) signals from the Middle Cerebral Artery and Internal Carotid Artery. TCD data and intracranial pressure (ICP) data will be collected in the following four scenarios. Each recording is up to 60 minutes in length. Multimodality high-resolution physiological signals will be collected from brain injured patients: traumatic brain injury, subarachnoid and intracerebral hemorrhage, liver failure, and ischemic stroke. This is not a hypothesis-driven study but rather a signal database development project with a goal to collect multimodality brain monitoring data to support development and validation of algorithms that will be useful for future brain monitoring devices. In particular, the collected data will be used to support: Development and validation of noninvasive intracranial pressure (nICP) algorithms. Development and validation of continuous monitoring of neurovascular coupling state for brain injury patients Development and validation of noninvasive approaches of detecting elevated ICP state. Development and validation of approaches to determine most likely causes of ICP elevation. Development and validation of approaches to detect acute cerebral hemodynamic response to various neurovascular procedures. Read Less

The overall goal of the DISCOVERY study is to better understand what factors contribute to changes in cognitive (i.e., thinking and memory) abilities in patients who experienced a stroke. The purpose of the study is to help doctors identify patients at risk for dementia (decline in memory, thinking and other mental abilities that significantly affects daily functioning) after their stroke so that future treatments may be developed to improve outcomes in stroke patients. For this study, a "stroke" is defined as either (1) an acute ischemic stroke (AIS, or blood clot in the brain), (2) an intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH, or bleeding in the brain), (3) or an aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH, or bleeding around the brain caused by an abnormal bulge in a blood vessel that bursts). The investigators hypothesize that: 1. The size, type and location of the stroke play an important role in recovery of thinking and memory abilities after stroke, and pre-existing indicators of brain health further determine the extent of this recovery. 2. Specific stroke events occurring in individuals with underlying genetic or biological risk factors can cause further declines in brain heath, leading to changes in thinking and memory abilities after stroke. 3. Studying thinking and memory alongside brain imaging and blood samples in patients who have had a stroke allows for earlier identification of declining brain health and development of individualized treatment plans to improve patient outcomes in the future. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to create a state-wide biorepository and resource center for cerebrovascular diseases in Florida, which will include collecting medical history information and blood from subjects affected by cerebrovascular disease. The information and blood samples collected may be used in future research for the study of cerebrovascular disease and to learn about, prevent or treat other health problems. Read Less

The study purpose is to investigate the hypothesis that in adults with SAH, early neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) and high protein supplementation (HPRO) will improve muscle mass, metabolic and inflammatory biomarker profiles, compared to SAH controls receiving standard of care interventions for nutrition and mobilization. The investigators will accomplish this by studying the effects of a high protein (HPRO) nutritional treatment as well as NMES intervention have upon muscle wasting and motor strength acutely after SAH. This will be addressed in a prospective trial of SAH patients receiving HRPO with NMES as compared to age and severity-matched SAH patients undergoing standard of care interventions for nutrition and mobilization. Additionally, the study will investigate the impact HPRO and NMES interventions have upon inflammatory cytokines and markers of energy balance. Results of this study will establish evidence for precision nutrition plus early exercise to mitigate the catabolic and inflammatory state produced by SAH to improve muscle, metabolic, and health recovery outcomes. Read Less