PROSPECTIVE STUDY OF ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHIC CHANGES ASSOCIATED WITH SUBARACHNOID HAEMORRHAGE

The incidence and nature of electrocardiographic changes occurring in subarachnoid haemorrhage was determined by a prospective study of neurosurgical patients. Electro-cardiography was performed daily. The patients were grouped according to whether the electrocardiogram was always normal, always abnormal, or changing. A high incidence of electrocardiographic changes occurred not only in patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage (62 per cent) but also in those with space-occupying lesions (68 per cent). The prognosis in patients with changing electrocardiographic abnormalities was worse than in those in whom the electrocardiogram was consistently normal or consistently abnormal. The cause of these electrocardiographic changes was not elucidated but they were noted to occur more frequently in association with deteriorating levels of consciousness, pyrexia, and diastolic hypertension.