Background and purpose: To investigate the clinical relevance of plasma concentrations of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) in patients with severe cerebrovascular diseases, serial analyses were performed during the first 10 days after the acute event.
Methods: Plasma samples taken from 61 patients (30 with brain infarction, 13 with intracerebral hemorrhage, 11 with cardiogenic hypoxia-ischemia, and 7 with myocardial infarction [as control group]) were analyzed for NSE concentration using an enzyme immunoassay. The time course of plasma NSE was correlated with clinical findings, clinical outcome, cranial computed tomography, intracranial pressure, and other laboratory data.
Results: In cases of hypoxia-ischemia there was close correlation between plasma NSE values during the first 72 hours and the clinical outcome. In brain infarction and intracerebral hemorrhage, high plasma NSE mostly indicated an unfavorable outcome, but low values did not permit a reliable prognostic estimation. In cases of cerebral infarction and intracerebral hemorrhage with secondary neuronal destruction (for example, due to malignant edema), increasing NSE concentrations in plasma preceded the change of clinical or other diagnostic parameters.
Conclusions: The course of plasma NSE levels is seen as a relevant parameter for assessing the prognosis of cerebral hypoxia-ischemia. Additionally, it may prove to be a useful tool for monitoring space-occupying brain infarctions and intracerebral hemorrhages and therefore may contribute to improved therapeutic management of severe cerebrovascular diseases.