Efficacy and Safety of Early Treatment with Glibenclamide in Patients with Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: A Randomized Controlled Trial

This study aims to investigate the efficacy and safety of glibenclamide treatment in patients with acute aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH).

The randomized controlled trial was conducted from October 2021 to May 2023 at two university-affiliated hospitals in Beijing, China. The study included patients with aSAH within 48 h of onset, of whom were divided into the intervention group and the control group according to the random number table method. Patients in the intervention group received glibenclamide tablet 3.75 mg/day for 7 days. The primary end points were the levels of serum neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and soluble protein 100B (S100B) between the two groups. Secondary end points included evaluating changes in the midline shift and the gray matter–white matter ratio, as well as assessing the modified Rankin Scale scores during follow-up. The trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (identifier NCT05137678).

A total of 111 study participants completed the study. The median age was 55 years, and 52% were women. The mean admission Glasgow Coma Scale was 10, and 58% of the Hunt-Hess grades were no less than grade III. The baseline characteristics of the two groups were similar. On days 3 and 7, there were no statistically significant differences observed in serum NSE and S100B levels between the two groups (P > 0.05). The computer tomography (CT) values of gray matter and white matter in the basal ganglia were low on admission, indicating early brain edema. However, there were no significant differences found in midline shift and gray matter–white matter ratio (P > 0.05) between the two groups. More than half of the patients had a beneficial outcome (modified Rankin Scale scores 0–2), and there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups. The incidence of hypoglycemia in the two groups were 4% and 9%, respectively (P = 0.439).

Treating patients with early aSAH with oral glibenclamide did not decrease levels of serum NSE and S100B and did not improve the poor 90-day neurological outcome. In the intervention group, there was a visible decreasing trend in cases of delayed cerebral ischemia, but no statistically significant difference was observed. The incidence of hypoglycemia did not differ significantly between the two groups.