Figure 1.

NO inhalation improves posthemorrhagic microcirculation. NO inhalation caused a near immediate and long-lasting vasodilation of spastic vessels. (a) Left: a baseline scan after SAH and prior to iNO treatment; right: the same vessel segment at t = 60 min, i. e. after 30 min of iNO treatment. (b) The number of spastic vessel segments (expressed as percent relative to baseline) was significantly decreased by iNO treatment. (c) 60 min after the start of IVM, i.e. 4 h after onset of SAH, spasm severity (i.e., the grade of constriction) was significantly lower in the iNO-treated vessels compared to control-treated vessels; this difference in constriction was largest in the smallest-diameter vessels but was significant in all vessel segments examined.