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

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