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(Stroke. 2007;38:1799.)
© 2007 American Heart Association, Inc.
Original Contributions |
From the Departments of Radiology and Neurology, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, Ohio.
Correspondence to Gregory A. Christoforidis, MD, 627 Means Hall, 1654 Upham Dr, The Ohio State University Medical Center, Columbus, OH 43210. E-mail greg.christoforidis{at}osumc.edu
| Abstract |
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Methods— Prospectively collected clinical and radiographic information, from 103 consecutive patients who underwent intraarterial thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke, was reviewed. Multiple paired comparisons between stratified hematoma volume and change in National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score by 24 to 36 hours and by time of hospital discharge was used to identify significant differences. Associations between hemorrhage volume and infarct volume in relation to clinical outcomes were examined. Rates of hemorrhagic transformation (HT), symptomatic hemorrhage, and parenchymal hematoma involving over 30% of the infarct were compared with hemorrhage volume. Multivariate regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between change in discharge NIHSS score and hemorrhage volume adjusting for known predictors of clinical outcomes.
Results— Multiple paired comparisons indicate that hemorrhage greater than 25 mL (HV25) had a more distinct impact on NIHSS score by time of hospital discharge than at 24 to 36 hours. Twenty-seven (26.2%) patients had HT and 12 (11.7%) had HV25. Among symptomatic hemorrhage, parenchymal hematoma involving over 30% of the infarct, and HV25, HV25 appeared more reflective of clinical deterioration from ICH. Hemorrhage volume increased with infarct volume but they were independently associated with change in NIHSS score on regression analysis.
Conclusion— Clinical deterioration from ICH and ischemic injury are more effectively distinguished at time of hospital discharge. The authors propose to define significant hemorrhage associated with thrombolysis as hemorrhage volume greater than 25 mL.
Key Words: acute stroke interventional neuroradiology intracerebral hemorrhage thrombolysis thrombolytic RX
| Introduction |
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| Materials and Methods |
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NIHSSS) from the time of ictus was calculated at 24 to 36 hours (
24hrNIHSSS) and at the time of hospital discharge (
dcNIHSSS). NIHSSS and mRankin were determined by a stroke neurologist (A.S., Y.M.).
Angiograms of all patients were reviewed for occlusion site, pial collateral formation, and reperfusion by an interventional neuroradiologist (G.A.C.) who was blind to all clinical information during this review. Pial collaterals were graded as good or poor based on anatomic extent as defined elsewhere.7 Reperfusion was assessed as a percentage of the affected vascular territory that was revascularized. Both pial collaterals and reperfusion have been shown to be associated with improved outcomes after thrombolytic treatment.7 Acute infarction on 24- to 48-hour CT was defined as a new hypodense region relative to pretreatment CT. Hemorrhagic transformation (HT) was defined as a new hyperdense region identified on any follow-up CT scan before patient discharge that did not display rapid clearance to suggest contrast extravasation. Infarcted regions and foci of hemorrhage were traced out on axial cross-sectional images by a certificate of added qualification (CAQ)-certified neuroradiologist (G.A.C.) and areas were calculated using IMPAX image analysis software (Agfa Corp., Ridgefield Park, NJ). Infarct and hemorrhage volumes were then determined by multiplying cross-sectional areas by slice thickness and adding them up. The clinical categories of symptomatic hemorrhagic transformation similar to the ECASS definition (SHT) and symptomatic hemorrhagic transformation similar to the Alteplase Thrombolysis for Acute Noninterventional Therapy in Ischemic Stroke definition (SHTA) were defined as any HT associated with a positive
24hrNIHSSS of 4 or more and 2 or more, respectively. The category of parenchymal hematoma involving over 30% of the infarct (PH2) was defined as a HT whose volume was more than 30% of the volume of the area of infarction using the previously described volumetric measurements rather than estimates as done previously.3
Shapiro-Wilk W test was used to reject the supposition of normality for
NIHSSS, if appropriate. Significant means difference test was performed between stratified hematoma volume (0 to 10, 10 to 25, 25 to 50, and 50 plus mL) and both
24hrNIHSSS and
dcNIHSSS to determine significant mean differences.
NIHSSS was treated as an interval variable. Once a significant difference was identified, it was used to restratify hemorrhage volume into 3 categories (no hemorrhage, hemorrhage volume below the threshold, and hemorrhage volume above the threshold). Multivariate analyses were used to determine significance of hemorrhage volume, clinical outcome, and infarct volume.
NIHSSS was treated as an interval variable; however, patients who died were reported separately for multivariate analysis. Median infarct volume and mean
24hrNIHSSS and mean
dcNIHSSS were then calculated for each hemorrhage volume and compared. Infarct volume was stratified and compared with
NIHSSS and stratified hemorrhage volume. Bonferroni correction was adapted as needed. Statistical analysis was done using JMP statistical software. The data were reviewed to assess the impact of infarct volume and hemorrhage volume on clinical outcomes.
Linear regression analysis was performed to determine the relationship between normally distributed
dcNIHSSS and hemorrhage volume while adjusting for age, diabetes, platelet counts, glucose level, presenting NIHSS, time to treatment, thrombolytic agent, pial collateral formation, extent of reperfusion, and infarct volume and to determine any interaction between these variables. All of these factors have been previously shown to be associated with either cerebral hemorrhage after thrombolytic treatment or outcome.2,4,8–13 All variables with P<0.10 were entered into the final model as predictors of clinical outcome using backward selection.
| Results |
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=14.7); median presentation NIHSSS was 16 (range, 4 to 30). Mean length of stay was 7.0 days (
=5.3). Of the 103 patients, 73 received tissue plasminogen activator (71%), 27 received urokinase (26%), and 3 received prourokinase (3%). The difference in rates of HT among thrombolytic agents was not statistically significant (–LogLike=0.039; r2=0.0007). Although
dcNIHSSS was not normally distributed (P<W=0.0001), separating those patients who died did not reject normality for either surviving patients (W=0.99; P<W=0.89) or patients who died by time of hospital discharge (W=0.96; P<W=0.71). Normality was not rejected for
24hrNIHSSS (W=0.97; P<W=0.19). To fulfill the assumption for normality for analysis of variance and linear regression analysis for
NIHSSS, patients who died were analyzed separately.
Figures 1 and 2
demonstrate that the apparent effect of hemorrhage on
24hrNIHSSS versus
dcNIHSSS differs. A dichotomized effect of hemorrhage volume becomes apparent at time of hospital discharge based on multiple comparison tests. NIHSSS improved in patients with HT with hemorrhage volumes of 0 to 10 mL and 10 to 25 mL in a statistically significant fashion based on the multiple comparisons test, whereas patients with HT volumes of 25 to 50 mL and greater than 50 mL were associated with increases in NIHSSS. Therefore, 25 mL was used as a threshold volume in defining significant hemorrhage volume.
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Table 1 compares clinical improvement, based on
NIHSSS, with hemorrhage volume. Patients with hemorrhage volumes less than 25 mL had similar outcomes as those without hemorrhage. Among patients who did not die during their hospitalization, those with hemorrhage volumes greater than 25 mL (HV25) had worse outcomes. A substantially higher death rate (66.7% versus 3.3%) occurred in those patients with HV25. Hemorrhage volume was shown to increase with infarct volume.
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Table 2 compares clinical improvement with infarct volume taking into account hematoma volume. Hemorrhage rate and hemorrhage volume both increased with infarct volume.
NIHSSS and death rate worsened with larger infarct volumes. HV25 appeared to be associated with higher death rates in the presence of larger infarct volumes. Small hematomas appear to have a smaller impact on clinical outcome. Patients with infarct volumes less than 50 mL had hematoma volumes less than 25 mL and significantly improved by the time of hospital discharge based on matched pairs analysis (P=0.0032). Lack of statistical significance does not obviate type II error. With statistical power of 90%,
NIHSSS should be no greater than 11 for large infarct volumes (>200 mL) and no greater than 6 in smaller infarct volume subgroups (0 to 50 mL).
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Table 3 compares patients with no hemorrhage, HT, PH2, SHT, and HV25 for outcomes at 24 to 36 hours, time of discharge, and at 3 months. A total of 19 patients with HT did not qualify as SHT; 6 (31.6%) of these patients had HV25 (3 of whom died during their hospital stay and one went on to deteriorate by a total of 5 points by the time of hospital discharge). The other 2 patients had infarct volumes that were relatively smaller. Twelve of the other 13 patients improved. One patient with hemorrhage volume 3 mL and an infarct volume of 388 mL deteriorated by 2 points on the NIHSS.
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Multivariate regression analysis for
NIHSSS is shown in Table 4. Presenting NIHSSS, infarct volume, and hemorrhage volume were independently associated with increases in NIHSSS, whereas extent of reperfusion was associated with decreases in NIHSSS.
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| Discussion |
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Because thrombolytic agents are generally cleared within 24 to 36 hours after administration, identifying ICH during this timeframe establishes a cause–effect relationship. Defining the clinical impact at that limited timeframe may falsely estimate the long-term consequences. The pathophysiology of edema attributable to cerebral infarction and ICH may help explain why differences in clinical outcome differ more at the time of hospital discharge than at 24 to 36 hours. Edema from acute ischemic stroke occurs at maximum 3 to 5 days after ictus, whereas edema from hemorrhage occurs at maximum up to 2 to 3 weeks with ICH and is strongly predictive of functional outcomes.14,15 Although hematoma volumes tend to be larger in thrombolysis-related ICH, associated edema tends to be less than in spontaneous ICH.16 Assuming that edema attributable to ischemia transiently impacts clinical deterioration in the first few days, waiting until edema attributable to ischemia has receded may help clarify the true impact of hemorrhage that persists longer. Indeed, Tables 1, 2, and 3![]()
indicate that patients without hemorrhage tended to improve during their hospital course, unlike patients with HV25 who deteriorated.
Data presented in this study support the theoretical rationale for evaluating clinical deterioration attributable to hemorrhage at hospital discharge rather than at 24 to 36 hours. In this study, 24 to 36 hours after presentation, 16 patients deteriorated by 4 or more points on the NIHSS; only 8 (50%) had an associated hemorrhage. This implies that clinical deterioration may occur regardless of presence of hemorrhage and may confound evaluation of the impact of the hemorrhage. Among 19 patients with HT but not SHT, 6 patients had HV25, 3 of whom died and one went on to deteriorate by a total of 5 points by the time of hospital discharge; in addition, Tables 1 and 2
show that patients with larger hemorrhages tended to die during their hospital stay, especially when associated with large infarct volumes. Therefore, characterizing symptomatic hemorrhage within the first 24 or 36 hours after thrombolysis would not be representative of potential consequences of the hemorrhage. Furthermore, patients who developed small hemorrhages (<25 mL) initially did not do as well as those who did not hemorrhage within the first 24 to 36 hours but by the time of hospital discharge tended to do as well. Clinical improvement in patients with smaller hemorrhages by the time of hospital discharge and clinical deterioration in patients with larger hemorrhages by the time of hospital discharge suggest that it may be more effective to use the dcNIHSSS rather than the 24hrNIHSSS as a more comprehensive indicator of clinical significance of such hemorrhages.
Furthermore, in Table 3, comparison of clinical outcomes at various timeframes supports the use of clinical outcome at the time of hospital discharge rather than at 24 to 36 hours or at 3 months. The rates at which patients with hemorrhage at 24 to 36 hours had either a
24hrNIHSSS less than 0 or a
24hrNIHSSS more than 4 were approximately 2- to 3-fold more than in those patients without hemorrhage. At the time of hospital discharge, these rates differed by approximately 5- to 7-fold. Three-month mRankin was only 2-fold larger in patients with HT. Three-month outcomes measured by mRankin are more likely influenced by factors not directly related to the stroke and require large patient cohorts to determine clinically significant effects from acute ICH.17 The most striking difference was with death rates, which had an almost 13-fold difference while in-house and 4.5-fold by 3 months. It is thus evident that clinical deterioration by the time of hospital discharge reflects the effect of ICH more clearly than deterioration by 24 to 36 hours or at 3 months. This helps explain why the impact of hemorrhage volume becomes more apparent by the time of hospital discharge in Figures 1 and 2
and helps establish a threshold ICH volume of 25 mL.
Results in this study confirm data derived from ECASS3 indicating that clinical deterioration in patients after stroke can occur with or without hemorrhagic transformation. Tables 1 through 4![]()
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demonstrate that increasing infarct volume (a measure of ischemic injury) is associated with clinical deterioration as well as larger and more frequent hemorrhage. Table 2 indicates that the risk of death during hospitalization is substantially higher when a large infarction (>200 mL) is associated with a large hemorrhage (>25 mL). Among the patients who died with infarct volumes less than 200 mL, one had a posterior fossa infarction (basilar artery thrombosis) without associated hemorrhage and the other had a hematoma volume of 115 mL. Factors such as basilar artery thrombosis and excessive hemorrhage relative to infarct volume may therefore also need to be taken into consideration when assessing clinical deterioration. However, of the 11 in-hospital deaths in this series, 8 occurred in patients with HV25 with a median infarct volume of 333 mL, which contrasts with the median infarct volume of 90.2 mL in the 5 patients who survived with HV25. It becomes clear that death predominantly occurs in patients with large infarctions who also develop a large hemorrhage.
Definitions of symptomatic ICH in major clinical trials differ. Along with blood at any site on CT scan, symptomatic ICH was defined as: a decrease in NIHSSSS of 4 or more points within 36 hours in ECASS II2; clinical deterioration in the judgment of the clinical investigator within 36 hours of treatment in the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke1; deterioration of 2 or more points on the NIHSS by 24 hours in Alteplase Thrombolysis for Acute Noninterventional Therapy in Ischemic Stroke4; and deterioration of 4 or more points on the NIHSS in Prolyse in Acute Cerebral Thromboembolism II.4 The ECASS study group reassessed hemorrhagic infarction using CT scans by applying previous definitions, which did not consider clinical outcome.18 They divided ICH into 4 subtypes2,3 and found only PH2 hemorrhage to be associated with clinical deterioration.2
HV25 appears to reflect deterioration attributable to hemorrhage more accurately than other methods. As stated earlier, the most striking differences between patients with and without HT are death and large clinical deteriorations by time of hospital discharge. Examining these 2 parameters on Table 3, it becomes apparent that among patients with HT who either died or had
dcNIHSSS +4 or greater, HV25 has more patients in common. As stated earlier, SHT does not take into account patients with ICH who deteriorated further during their hospital stay. One should expect a percentage of patients with HT would deteriorate predominantly attributable to ischemic injury. Accordingly, the percentage of patients who deteriorate attributable to hemorrhage should be equivalent to the total patients who deteriorated as a result of hemorrhage less the percentage of patients who deteriorated without hemorrhage. Of the methods compared in Table 3, HV25 more closely estimates deterioration attributable to hemorrhage in Table 3. Furthermore, as was the case in one patient in this study, complete reperfusion can counterbalance deterioration associated with HV25. This can also be inferred from the regression analysis (Table 4). These findings suggest that the significance of ICH after IAT may be more objectively assessed by measuring hemorrhage volume.
In the current study, there are several limitations of note. Retrospective review could result in misclassification and selection bias. These were controlled by using a consecutive series, blinding the investigator, and using preestablished definitions of SHT and PH2 to categorize patients. A larger prospective study can confirm the stated results. The reasoning that it is consistent with previous findings supports the regression models validity.
Conclusion
Although any hemorrhage may have a clinical impact, this study indicates that by the time of hospital discharge, patients with ICH volumes less than 25 mL fare as well as those without ICH, whereas ICH volumes greater than 25 mL are negatively associated with clinical outcome. Patients receiving IAT for acute ischemic stroke more often had large hemorrhages if the infarct volume was large. Finally, clinical deterioration related to hemorrhage volume becomes more apparent when assessing NIHSS scores at the time of hospital discharge rather than NIHSS score at 24 to 36 hours. The authors therefore propose to define significant hemorrhage associated with IAT as a hemorrhage volume greater than 25 mL within 24 hours of treatment. A volume-based definition of ICH is suggested to provide a more objective description of the impact of ICH relative to current definitions of SHT.
| Acknowledgments |
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Disclosures
None.
Received October 2, 2006; revision received January 7, 2007; accepted January 11, 2007.
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