Background
Conflicting data exist regarding the association of perihematomal edema (PHE) with outcomes after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). We performed a post hoc analysis of the ICH Deferoxamine ...trial to examine whether an early change in ventricular size (VS), as a composite measure of PHE growth and mass effect, intraventricular hemorrhage, and hydrocephalus, is a more accurate predictor of outcome than PHE measures alone.
Methods
Computerized tomography scans were performed at baseline and after 72–96 h. We evaluated measures of PHE and change in VS as predictors of outcome, assessed by a dichotomized modified Rankin Scale score (0–2 versus 3–6), primarily at 90 days and secondarily at 30 days. A multivariable logistic regression model was fitted for each predictor, with adjustment for the same confounders.
Results
A total of 248 participants were included after we excluded those requiring external ventricular drains. On univariate analyses, older age, female sex, lower Glasgow Coma Scale score and baseline temperature, greater ICH volume, absolute PHE volume, edema extension distance at presentation, lesser changes in relative PHE volume and edema extension distance, and an increase in VS were associated with poor outcome. In multivariable analyses, only the increase in VS was associated with lower odds of modified Rankin Scale scores 0–2 at 90 days (odds ratio 0.927, 95% confidence interval 0.866–0.970,
p
= 0.001) and 30 days (odds ratio 0.931, 95% confidence interval 0.888–0.975,
p
= 0.003).
Conclusions
Within the context of a randomized controlled trial with standardized imaging and functional assessments, we did not find significant associations between measures of PHE and outcome but documented an independent association between early increase in VS and lower odds of good clinical outcome.
Background:
Cognitive impairment (CI) is commonly observed after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). While a growing number of studies have explored this association, several evidence gaps persist. This ...review seeks to investigate the relationship between CI and ICH.
Methods:
A two-stage systematic review of research articles, clinical trials, and case series was performed. Initial search used the keywords “Intracerebral hemorrhage” OR “ICH” AND “Cognitive Impairment” OR “Dementia OR “Cognitive Decline” within the PubMed (last accessed November 3rd, 2020) and ScienceDirect (last accessed October 27th, 2020) databases, without publication date limits. Articles that addressed CI and spontaneous ICH were accepted if CI was assessed after ICH. Articles were rejected if they did not independently address an adult human population or spontaneous ICH, didn't link CI to ICH, were an unrelated document type, or were not written in English. A secondary snowball literature search was performed using reviews identified by the initial search. The Agency for Healthcare research and Quality's assessment tool was used to evaluate bias within studies. Rates of CI and contributory factors were investigated.
Results:
Search yielded 32 articles that collectively included 22,631 patients. Present evidence indicates a high rate of post-ICH CI (65–84%) in the acute phase (<4 weeks) which is relatively lower at 3 (17.3–40.2%) and 6 months (19–63.3%). Longer term follow-up (≥1 year) demonstrates a gradual increase in CI. Advanced age, female sex, and prior stroke were associated with higher rates of CI. Associations between post-ICH CI and cerebral microbleeds, superficial siderosis, and ICH volume also exist. Pre-ICH cognitive assessment was missing in 28% of included studies. The Mini Mental State Evaluation (44%) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (16%) were the most common cognitive assessments, albeit with variable thresholds and definitions. Studies rarely (<10%) addressed racial and ethnic disparities.
Discussion:
Current findings suggest a dynamic course of post-ICH cognitive impairment that may depend on genetic, sociodemographic and clinical factors. Methodological heterogeneity prevented meta-analysis, limiting results. There is a need for the methodologies and time points of post-ICH cognitive assessments to be harmonized across diverse clinical and demographic populations.
The benefit of mechanical thrombectomy (MT) in patients with stroke presenting with mild deficits (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale NIHSS score <6) owing to emergency large-vessel occlusion ...(ELVO) remains uncertain.
To assess the outcomes of patients with mild-deficits ELVO (mELVO) treated with MT vs best medical management (bMM).
We retrospectively pooled patients with mELVO during a 5-year period from 16 centers. A meta-analysis of studies reporting efficacy and safety outcomes with MT or bMM among patients with mELVO was also conducted. Data were analyzed between 2013 and 2017.
We identified studies that enrolled patients with stroke (within 24 hours of symptom onset) with mELVO treated with MT or bMM.
Efficacy outcomes included 3-month favorable functional outcome and 3-month functional independence that were defined as modified Rankin Scale scores of 0 to 1 and 0 to 2, respectively. Safety outcomes included 3-month mortality and symptomatic and asymptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (ICH).
We evaluated a total of 251 patients with mELVO who were treated with MT (n = 138; 65 women; mean age, 65.2 years; median NIHSS score, 4; interquartile range IQR, 3-5) or bMM (n = 113; 51 women; mean age, 64.8; median NIHSS score, 3; interquartile range IQR, 2-4). The rate of asymptomatic ICH was lower in bMM (4.6% vs 17.5%; P = .002), while the rate of 3-month FI (after imputation of missing follow-up evaluations) was lower in MT (77.4% vs 88.5%; P = .02). The 2 groups did not differ in any other efficacy or safety outcomes. In multivariable analyses, MT was associated with higher odds of asymptomatic ICH (odds ratio OR, 11.07; 95% CI, 1.31-93.53; P = .03). In the meta-analysis of 4 studies (843 patients), MT was associated with higher odds of symptomatic ICH in unadjusted analyses (OR, 5.52; 95% CI, 1.91-15.49; P = .002; I2 = 0%). This association did not retain its significance in adjusted analyses including 2 studies (OR, 2.06; 95% CI, 0.49-8.63; P = .32; I2 = 0%). The meta-analysis did not document any other independent associations between treatment groups and safety or efficacy outcomes.
Our multicenter study coupled with the meta-analysis suggests similar outcomes of MT and bMM in patients with stroke with mELVO, but no conclusions about treatment effect can be made. The clinical equipoise can further be resolved by a randomized clinical trial.
To compare the neuroimaging profile and clinical outcomes among patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) related to use of vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) or direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) for ...nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF).
We evaluated consecutive patients with NVAF with nontraumatic, anticoagulant-related ICH admitted at 13 tertiary stroke care centers over a 12-month period. We also performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of eligible observational studies reporting baseline characteristics and outcomes among patients with VKA- or DOAC-related ICH.
We prospectively evaluated 161 patients with anticoagulation-related ICH (mean age 75.6 ± 9.8 years, 57.8% men, median admission NIH Stroke Scale NIHSS
score 13 points, interquartile range 6-21). DOAC-related (n = 47) and VKA-related (n = 114) ICH did not differ in demographics, vascular risk factors, HAS-BLED and CHA
DS
-VASc scores, and antiplatelet pretreatment except for a higher prevalence of chronic kidney disease in VKA-related ICH. Patients with DOAC-related ICH had lower median NIHSS
scores (8 3-14 vs 15 7-25 points,
= 0.003), median baseline hematoma volume (12.8 4-40 vs 24.3 11-58.8 cm
,
= 0.007), and median ICH score (1 0-2 vs 2 1-3 points,
= 0.049). Severe ICH (>2 points) was less prevalent in DOAC-related ICH (17.0% vs 36.8%,
= 0.013). In multivariable analyses, DOAC-related ICH was independently associated with lower baseline hematoma volume (
= 0.006), lower NIHSS
scores (
= 0.022), and lower likelihood of severe ICH (odds ratio OR 0.34, 95% confidence interval CI 0.13-0.87,
= 0.025). In meta-analysis of eligible studies, DOAC-related ICH was associated with lower baseline hematoma volumes on admission CT (standardized mean difference = -0.57, 95% CI -1.02 to -0.12,
= 0.010) and lower in-hospital mortality rates (OR = 0.44, 95% CI 0.21-0.91,
= 0.030).
DOAC-related ICH is associated with smaller baseline hematoma volume and lesser neurologic deficit at hospital admission compared to VKA-related ICH.
Although statins have been associated with increased risk of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage, their relationship with cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) formation is poorly understood. We ...systematically reviewed previously published studies reporting on the association between CMBs presence and current statin use.
We performed a systematic search in MEDLINE and SCOPUS databases on October 24, 2019 to identify all cohorts from randomized-controlled clinical trials or observational studies reporting on CMB prevalence and statin use. We extracted cross-sectional data on CMBs presence, as provided by each study, in association to the history of current statin use. Random effects model was used to calculate the pooled estimates. We included 7 studies (n = 3734 participants): unselected general population n = 1965, ischemic stroke n = 849, hemorrhagic stroke n = 252 and patients with hypertension over the age of 60 n = 668. Statin use was not associated with CMBs presence in either unadjusted (OR = 1.15, 95%CI: 0.76–1.74) or adjusted analyses (OR = 1.09, 95%CI: 0.64–1.86). Statin use was more strongly related to lobar CMB presence (OR = 2.01, 95%CI: 1.48–2.72) in unadjusted analysis. The effect size of this association was consistent, but no longer statistically significant in adjusted analysis that was confined to two eligible studies (OR = 2.26, 95%CI: 0.86–5.91). Except for the analysis on the unadjusted probability of lobar CMBs presence, considerable heterogeneity was present in all other analyses (I2 > 60%). Our findings suggest that statin treatment seems not to be associated with CMBs overall, but may increase the risk of lobar CMB formation. This hypothesis deserves further investigation within magnetic resonance imaging ancillary studies of randomized trials.
•The relationship of statins with cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) formation is unknown.•This meta-analysis evaluates the association between CMBs presence and statin use.•Unadjusted and adjusted analyses uncovered no association of statins with CMBs presence.•Statin use was related to a two-fold higher chance for lobar CMB presence.•This association was consistent, but no statistically significant, in adjusted analysis.
Cerebellar intracerebral hemorrhage (cICH) is often attributed to hypertension or cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). However, deciphering the exact etiology can be challenging. A recent study ...reported a topographical etiologic relationship with superficial cICH secondary to CAA. We aimed to reexamine this relationship between topography and etiology in a separate cohort of patients and using the most recent Boston criteria version 2.0.
We performed a retrospective analysis of consecutive patients with primary cICH admitted to a tertiary academic center between 2000 and 2022. cICH location on brain computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging scan(s) was divided into strictly superficial (cortex, surrounding white matter, vermis) versus deep (cerebellar nuclei, deep white matter, peduncular region) or mixed (both regions). Magnetic resonance imaging was rated for markers of cerebral small vessel disease. We assigned possible/probable versus absent CAA using Boston criteria 2.0.
We included 197 patients; 106 (53.8%) were females, median age was 74 (63-82) years. Fifty-six (28%) patients had superficial cICH and 141 (72%) deep/mixed cICH. Magnetic resonance imaging was available for 112 (57%) patients (30 26.8% with superficial and 82 73.2% with deep/mixed cICH). Patients with superficial cICH were more likely to have possible/probable CAA (48.3% versus 8.6%; odds ratio OR, 11.43 95% CI, 3.26-40.05;
<0.001), strictly lobar cerebral microbleeds (51.7% versus 6.2%; OR, 14.18 95% CI, 3.98-50.50;
<0.001), and cortical superficial siderosis (13.8% versus 1.2%; OR, 7.70 95% CI, 0.73-80.49;
=0.08). Patients with deep/mixed cICH were more likely to have deep/mixed cerebral microbleeds (59.2% versus 3.4%; OR, 41.39 95% CI, 5.01-341.68;
=0.001), lacunes (54.9% versus 17.2%; OR, 6.14 95% CI, 1.89-19.91;
=0.002), severe basal ganglia enlarged perivascular spaces (36.6% versus 7.1%; OR, 7.63 95% CI, 1.58-36.73;
=0.01), hypertension (84.4% versus 62.5%; OR, 3.43 95% CI, 1.61 to -7.30;
=0.001), and higher admission systolic blood pressure (172 146-200 versus 146 124-158 mm Hg,
<0.001).
Our results suggest that superficial cICH is strongly associated with CAA whereas deep/mixed cICH is strongly associated with hypertensive arteriopathy.