Supraphysiologic Insulin to Improve Outcomes After Surgical Treatment of Unruptured Cerebral Aneurysms

Summary

We hypothesize that in patients undergoing surgical treatment of unruptured intracranial aneurysms, the increase in blood sugar as a result of surgical stress is detrimental to outcome, as measured by blood levels of proteins associated with systemic inflammation and 7 day, 90 day, and 1 year postoperative neurologic and neuropsychiatric outcomes. Because insulin itself is an anti-inflammatory agent, we anticipate that normalizing blood sugar levels with insulin doses higher than normally produced by the body (i.e., "supraphysiologic" insulin doses) will have a greater benefit on these outcomes than equally normalizing blood sugar levels using normal insulin doses. Based on the results of this study, we will be able to determine if a more laborious strategy to normalize blood sugar levels (i.e., "supraphysiologic" insulin therapy) offers any additional benefits to normal insulin dosing strategies. In addition, we will obtain a robust assessment of postoperative neuropsychiatric and neurologic outcomes of surgically repaired unruptured intracranial aneurysms that will serve as the basis for future studies to decrease morbidity of these patients

Timeline

Start

2009-01

Primary completion

2010-01

Completion

2010-01

Drugs

Indications