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Accuracy of predictive scores of hemorrhagic transformation in patients with acute ischemic stroke

Acurácia de escores preditivos de transformação hemorrágica em pacientes com isquemia cerebral aguda

ABSTRACT

Background:

Hemorrhagic transformation (HT) is a complication in ischemic strokes, regardless of use of reperfusion therapy (RT). There are many predictive scores for estimating the risk of HT. However, most of them include patients also treated with RT. Therefore, this may lead to a misinterpretation of the risk of HT in patients who did not undergo RT.

Objective:

We aimed to review published predictive scores and analyze their accuracy in our dataset.

Methods:

We analyzed the accuracy of seven scales. Our dataset was derived from a cohort of 1,565 consecutive patients from 2015 to 2017 who were admitted to a comprehensive stroke center. All patients were evaluated with follow-up neuroimaging within seven days. Comparison of area under the curve (AUC) was performed on each scale, to analyze differences between patients treated with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and those without this treatment.

Results:

Our dataset provided enough data to assess seven scales, among which six were used among patients with and without tPA treatment. HAT (AUC 0.76), HTI (0.73) and SEDAN (0.70) were the most accurate scores for patients not treated with tPA. SPAN-100 (0.55) had the worst accuracy in both groups. Three of these scores had different cutoffs between study groups.

Conclusions:

The predictive scores had moderate to fair accuracy for predicting HT in patients treated with tPA. Three scales were more accurate for predicting HT in patients not treated with tPA. Through standardizing these characteristics and including more patients not treated with RT in a large multicenter series, accurate predictive scores may be created.

Keywords:
Ischemic Stroke; Precision Medicine

RESUMO

Background:

Transformação hemorrágica (TH) é uma complicação frequente no acidente vascular cerebral (AVC) isquêmico independente do uso de terapia de reperfusão (TR). Diversos escores preditivos de TH foram elaborados. Entretanto, a maioria desses escores incluíram pacientes submetidos a TR — o que pode levar à má interpretação do risco de TH nos pacientes não submetidos a TR.

Objetivo:

Nosso objetivo é revisar escores preditivos já publicados e analisar a sua acurácia em nossa amostra.

Métodos:

Analisamos a acurácia de sete escores. Nosso banco foi criado de uma coorte de 1.565 pacientes consecutivos, admitidos entre 2015 e 2017 em um centro avançado de AVC. Os pacientes realizaram neuroimagem de controle em até sete dias. Uma comparação entre áreas abaixo da curva/característica de operação do receptor (AUC) foi realizada, analisando-se as diferenças entre grupos de pacientes tratados ou não com ativador de plasminogênio tecidual recombinante (tPA).

Resultados:

Nosso banco de dados proporcionou informação suficiente para avaliar sete escores, dos quais seis foram aplicados em pacientes tratados ou não com tPA. HAT (AUC 0,76), HTI (0,73) e SEDAN (0,70) foram os escores mais acurados em pacientes não tratados com tPA. SPAN-100 (0,55) teve a pior acurácia nos grupos. Três desses escores apresentaram diferentes valores de corte entre os grupos.

Conclusões:

Os escores apresentaram de boa a moderada acurácia na predição de TH em pacientes tratados com tPA. Três escores foram mais acurados em pacientes não tratados com tPA. A parametrização dessas características e a inclusão de mais pacientes não tratados com TR em um estudo multicêntrico poderia levar a escores mais acurados.

Palavras-chave:
AVC Isquêmico; Medicina de Precisão

INTRODUCTION

Hemorrhagic transformation (HT) may be a devastating complication of acute ischemic stroke11 Zhang J, Yang Y, Sun H, Xing Y. Hemorrhagic transformation after cerebral infarction: current concepts and challenges. Ann Transl Med. 2014 Aug;2(8):81. https://doi.org/10.3978/j.issn.2305-5839.2014.08.08
https://doi.org/10.3978/j.issn.2305-5839...
. About 40% of ischemic strokes undergo HT, regardless of use of acute reperfusion therapy (RT)22 Lindley RI, Wardlaw JM, Sandercock PA, Rimdusid P, Lewis SC, Signorini DF, et al. Frequency and risk factors for spontaneous hemorrhagic transformation of cerebral infarction. J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis. 2004 Nov-Dec;13(6):235-46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2004.03.003.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jstrokecerebro...
. HT is a significant cause of early mortality in patients with acute stroke. The risk is higher among patients undergoing thrombolytic therapy22 Lindley RI, Wardlaw JM, Sandercock PA, Rimdusid P, Lewis SC, Signorini DF, et al. Frequency and risk factors for spontaneous hemorrhagic transformation of cerebral infarction. J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis. 2004 Nov-Dec;13(6):235-46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2004.03.003.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jstrokecerebro...
. The leading cause of HT is postulated to be endothelial dysfunction marked by a catastrophic failure of capillary integrity, which leads to extravasation of blood33 Álvarez-Sabín J, Maisterra O, Santamarina E, Kase CS. Factors influencing haemorrhagic transformation in ischaemic stroke. Lancet Neurol. 2013 Jul;12(7):689-705. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(13)70055-3.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(13)70...
.

There are many predictive scores for estimating the risk of HT after ischemic stroke44 Kalinin MN, Khasanova DR, Ibatullin MM. The hemorrhagic transformation index score: a prediction tool in middle cerebral artery ischemic stroke. BMC Neurol. 2017 Sep 7;17(1):177. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12883-017-0958-3
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12883-017-0958-...
,55 Yaghi S, Willey JZ, Cucchiara B, Goldstein JN, Gonzales NR, Khatri P, et al. Treatment and outcome of hemorrhagic transformation after intravenous alteplase in acute ischemic stroke: a scientific statement for healthcare professionals from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. Stroke. 2017 Dec;48(12):e343-e361. https://doi.org/10.1161/STR.0000000000000152
https://doi.org/10.1161/STR.000000000000...
. However, most of these models include patients treated with reperfusion therapies. Many of these predictive models do not discriminate among the specific subsets of the patient population who did not undergo reperfusion therapy. Thus, some differences in clinical characteristics between patients who were treated with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and those without this treatment could lead to different cutoffs regarding significant risk factors.

We aimed to present a review of nine such predictive scores and to validate them on a specific cohort of patients, considering the acute therapy received (tPA versus no-tPA). We also aimed to analyze the accuracy of such scales in predicting the risk of HT and compare their accuracy, considering the acute therapy received.

METHODS

Selection of predictive scores

We performed a search in the PubMed database using the keywords Hemorrhagic Transformation and Score. We found 2,904 papers. Three authors (JBCA, FOL, GSS) selected the papers based on the main objective of our work. We evaluated ten predictive scores of HT that were published up to August 2019, regardless of reperfusion therapies. Scores that included only patients treated with intra-arterial thrombolysis or mechanical thrombectomy only were not included. In the final analysis, we selected 10 studies.

Dataset collection

We initially included 2,350 consecutive patients from February 2015 to October 2017 who were admitted to a Brazilian comprehensive stroke center. Patients without follow-up neuroimaging within seven days or medical reports not appropriately filled out were excluded (n=785). Eligible patients were treated with IV tPA in accordance with the national protocol66 Martins SCO, Freitas GRD, Pontes-Neto OM, Pieri A, Moro CHC, Jesus PAPD, et al. Guidelines for acute ischemic stroke treatment: part II: stroke treatment. Arq Neuro-Psiquiatr. 2012 Nov;70(11):885-93. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0004-282X2012001100012
https://doi.org/10.1590/S0004-282X201200...
. Patients who underwent mechanical thrombectomy were excluded from this analysis.

Hemorrhagic transformation

Our primary analysis of interest was based on the discriminative ability of these scales for predicting the presence of HT. HT was diagnosed through evidence of blood or hemoglobin products within the new ischemic area22 Lindley RI, Wardlaw JM, Sandercock PA, Rimdusid P, Lewis SC, Signorini DF, et al. Frequency and risk factors for spontaneous hemorrhagic transformation of cerebral infarction. J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis. 2004 Nov-Dec;13(6):235-46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2004.03.003.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jstrokecerebro...
,77 Thanvi BR, Treadwell S, Robinson T. Haemorrhagic transformation in acute ischaemic stroke following thrombolysis therapy: classification, pathogenesis and risk factors. Postgrad Med J. 2008 Aug;84(993):361-7. https://doi.org/10.1136/pgmj.2007.067058
https://doi.org/10.1136/pgmj.2007.067058...
on neuroimaging performed up to seven days after admission. Symptomatic and asymptomatic cases were grouped in regression models. All neuroimages were evaluated by radiologists not involved in patient care and who were not aware of the clinical syndrome or functional status. Neuroradiologists and board-certified neurologists with expertise in vascular neurology addressed any discordances about the presence or absence of HT.

Follow-up neuroimaging

All patients included had at least one follow-up neuroimaging within seven days after their hospital admission. Patients who underwent IV thrombolysis with tPA had follow-up neuroimaging at least within 24 h after admission. Follow-up neuroimaging was performed either as part of the regular etiological workup or due to neurological deterioration. Computed tomography (CT) scans or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were acceptable for performing the follow-up.

Statistical analysis

The accuracy of the predictive scores was attested through receiver operating characteristic analysis (ROC). We produced a ROC curve for each scale. A comparison of area under the curve (AUC) was performed, to analyze differences between groups of patients (treated or not treated with tPA). We reported values for sensitivity and specificity in relation to values corresponding to optimal performance on the ROC curve for any HT. The points of optimal performance were obtained through Youden's test. The AUC for the ROC curves was compared using a chi-square test with an alpha of 0.05, on the results from our separate analyses, through the methodology proposed by DeLong88 DeLong ER, DeLong DM, Clarke-Pearson DL. Comparing the areas under two or more correlated receiver operating characteristic curves: a nonparametric approach. Biometrics. 1988 Sep;44(3):837-45.. All probability values were 2-sided, and p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. We performed Hosmer-Lemeshow tests on the performance of each scale against the primary outcome (any hemorrhagic transformation). The analyses were performed using the SPSS software (version 25.5; IBM)

RESULTS

We had access to individual data for 1,565 consecutive patients with an established diagnosis of acute ischemic stroke who underwent follow-up neuroimaging within seven days after hospital admission. Their median age was 67 years (range: 57 to 76); NIH stroke scale on admission was 13 points (range: 7 to 19) and ASPECTS on admission was 9 points (range: [7 to 10). Males accounted for 60.5% of our sample. The rate of any HT was 23.1% (n=361). In our dataset, 35.1% (n=577) were treated with tPA. Our in-hospital mortality rate was 8.1% (n=130).

Our dataset provided enough data to assess seven scales, among which six were used on patients either treated or not treated with tPA.

Ten published predictive scales describe 21 risk factors of HT which can be grouped into eight sets: epidemiological (age, ethnics and gender); clinical classification and severity (NIH stroke scale/Canadian neurological scale and lacunar syndrome); laboratory findings (glucose on admission, INR and platelet count); neuroimaging findings (early hypodensity, ASPECTS, volume of the ischemic area and hyperdense MCA sign); vital signs (systolic blood pressure and weight); medical history (diabetes mellitus, arterial blood pressure, heart failure, renal impairment, cancer, antithrombotic medicines and baseline disability), atrial fibrillation and time between symptom onset and treatment. The most cited risk factors of HT were neurological severity, age, glucose on admission and neuroimaging findings (early hypodensity or large injured area). These scores are described in Table 1.

Table 1
Published predictive scores for hemorrhagic transformation.

These scores were used on a mean number of 591±191 patients; and the time that elapsed until follow-up neuroimaging was performed was 192±144 hours, from the time of admission. The overall prevalence of HT ranged from 9.9 to 23.8%, and the prevalence of symptomatic HT ranged from 6 to 12.5% (Table 2).

Table 2
Overview of predictive scales.

Regarding our primary outcome, HAT99 Lou M, Safdar A, Mehdiratta M, Kumar S, Schlaug G, Caplan L, et al. The HAT Score: a simple grading scale for predicting hemorrhage after thrombolysis. Neurology. 2008 Oct;71(18):1417-23. https://doi.org/10.1212/01.wnl.0000330297.58334.dd
https://doi.org/10.1212/01.wnl.000033029...
, SEDAN1010 Strbian D, Engelter S, Michel P, Meretoja A, Sekoranja L, Ahlhelm FJ, et al. Symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage after stroke thrombolysis: the SEDAN score. Ann Neurol. 2012 Jan;71:634-41. https://doi.org/10.1161/STROKEAHA.113.003806
https://doi.org/10.1161/STROKEAHA.113.00...
and HTI44 Kalinin MN, Khasanova DR, Ibatullin MM. The hemorrhagic transformation index score: a prediction tool in middle cerebral artery ischemic stroke. BMC Neurol. 2017 Sep 7;17(1):177. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12883-017-0958-3
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12883-017-0958-...
were the most accurate predictive scores (Table 3), while SPAN-1001111 Saposnik G, Guzik AK, Reeves M, Ovbiagele B, Johnston SC. Stroke prognostication using age and NIH Stroke Scale: SPAN-100. Neurology. 2013 Jan;80(1):21-8. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0b013e31827b1ace
https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0b013e31827b...
had the smallest AUC. Through formal significance testing, we found that only one scale showed a difference in accuracy between patients treated and not treated with tPA: the HAT99 Lou M, Safdar A, Mehdiratta M, Kumar S, Schlaug G, Caplan L, et al. The HAT Score: a simple grading scale for predicting hemorrhage after thrombolysis. Neurology. 2008 Oct;71(18):1417-23. https://doi.org/10.1212/01.wnl.0000330297.58334.dd
https://doi.org/10.1212/01.wnl.000033029...
score was more accurate among patients not treated with tPA. None of the other scores differed in accuracy between the two treatment groups.

Table 3
Validation in our local dataset (n=1,565).

Comparative analysis of the scores in the two groups (treated or not treated with tPA) showed that three of them (HAT, HTI and SEDAN) had similar predictive values among patients not treated with RT. Among patients treated with RT, there was no difference in accuracy between the scales (Table 4).

Table 4
Comparison of area under the curve between predictive scales of hemorrhagic transformation.

DISCUSSION

Validation in multicenter samples and comparison of the accuracy of predictive scores of HT are valid resources for choosing the most accurate predictive or diagnostic tool55 Yaghi S, Willey JZ, Cucchiara B, Goldstein JN, Gonzales NR, Khatri P, et al. Treatment and outcome of hemorrhagic transformation after intravenous alteplase in acute ischemic stroke: a scientific statement for healthcare professionals from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. Stroke. 2017 Dec;48(12):e343-e361. https://doi.org/10.1161/STR.0000000000000152
https://doi.org/10.1161/STR.000000000000...
. Studies comparing these scores in different populations of tPA-treated patients have shown similar predictive values. However, there is still no data about these validations among patients not treated with tPA.

Among our patients not treated with RT, three scales showed the best accuracy (HAT, HTI and SEDAN)44 Kalinin MN, Khasanova DR, Ibatullin MM. The hemorrhagic transformation index score: a prediction tool in middle cerebral artery ischemic stroke. BMC Neurol. 2017 Sep 7;17(1):177. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12883-017-0958-3
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12883-017-0958-...
,99 Lou M, Safdar A, Mehdiratta M, Kumar S, Schlaug G, Caplan L, et al. The HAT Score: a simple grading scale for predicting hemorrhage after thrombolysis. Neurology. 2008 Oct;71(18):1417-23. https://doi.org/10.1212/01.wnl.0000330297.58334.dd
https://doi.org/10.1212/01.wnl.000033029...
,1010 Strbian D, Engelter S, Michel P, Meretoja A, Sekoranja L, Ahlhelm FJ, et al. Symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage after stroke thrombolysis: the SEDAN score. Ann Neurol. 2012 Jan;71:634-41. https://doi.org/10.1161/STROKEAHA.113.003806
https://doi.org/10.1161/STROKEAHA.113.00...
. Each of these scales included variables from three categories of predictors: clinical, neuroimaging and laboratory or electrocardiogram. All of these variables can be obtained upon patient admission. All the predictors included in these scores were also reported as significant risk factors of HT in a recent metanalysis, which found 18 variables statistically associated with HT among patients treated with tPA, and 12 of these were listed as risk factors of HT in 10 predictive scores (Table 1).

Besides the quantitative data, reproducibility of the variables included in the predictive models is also essential. Thus, a qualitative analysis may also be helpful in that process. Differences in the clinical and radiological criteria of HT have led to attempts to create scores that integrate multiple factors, in order to better predict the risk of HT.

In our sample, the HAT score was the most accurate score for predicting HT among patients who were not treated with RT, in comparison with those treated with tPA, even though it was developed and tested exclusively for patients who were given IV-tPA. We suppose that the presence and extent of a well-defined ischemic area was a significant factor in distinguishing its accuracy in relation to the two groups. Patients not eligible for RT usually came to the hospital more than 4.5 h after the onset of symptoms, which may have led to a well-defined ischemic area on CT scans. Thus, patients with visible hypodensity on CT scans and large lesions (>1/3 of the area of the middle cerebral artery) had higher scores and, therefore, a higher chance of HT. Moreover, all other variables included in the HAT score were previously described, such as risk factors of HT among patients not treated with tPA1212 Terruso V, D'amelio M, Benedetto ND, Lupo I, Saia V, Famoso G, et al. Frequency and determinants for hemorrhagic transformation of cerebral infarction. Neuroepidemiology. 2009;33(3):261-5. https://doi.org/10.1159/000229781
https://doi.org/10.1159/000229781...
1717 Yi X, Sui G, Zhou Q, Wang C, Lin J, Chai Z, et al. Variants in matrix metalloproteinase-9 gene are associated with hemorrhagic transformation in acute ischemic stroke patients with atherothrombosis, small artery disease, and cardioembolic stroke. Brain Behav. 2019 Jun;9(6):e01294. https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.1294
https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.1294...
. The two other most accurate scales among patients not treated with tPA also included previously reported risk factors of HT1212 Terruso V, D'amelio M, Benedetto ND, Lupo I, Saia V, Famoso G, et al. Frequency and determinants for hemorrhagic transformation of cerebral infarction. Neuroepidemiology. 2009;33(3):261-5. https://doi.org/10.1159/000229781
https://doi.org/10.1159/000229781...
,1313 Rodriguez-Yanez M, Castellanos M, Blanco M, Millan M, Nombela F, Sobrino T, et al. Micro- and macroalbuminuria predict hemorrhagic transformation in acute ischemic stroke. Neurology. 2006 Oct;67(7):1172-7. https://doi.org/10.1212/01.wnl.0000238353.89194.08.
https://doi.org/10.1212/01.wnl.000023835...
,1515 Horowitz S, Zito J, Donnarumma R, Patel M, Alvir J. Clinical-radiographic correlations within the first five hours of cerebral infarction. Acta Neurol Scand. 1992 Aug;86(2):207-14. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0404.1992.tb05068.x
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0404.1992...
,1717 Yi X, Sui G, Zhou Q, Wang C, Lin J, Chai Z, et al. Variants in matrix metalloproteinase-9 gene are associated with hemorrhagic transformation in acute ischemic stroke patients with atherothrombosis, small artery disease, and cardioembolic stroke. Brain Behav. 2019 Jun;9(6):e01294. https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.1294
https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.1294...
2424 Jiao Y, Li G, Xing Y, Nie D, Liu X. Influencing factors of hemorrhagic transformation in non-thrombolysis patients with cerebral infarction. Clin Neurol Neurosurg. 2019 Jun;181:68-72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clineuro.2019.04.018.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clineuro.2019....
. The inclusion of these risk factors may explain the high accuracy that we found in our sample.

SPAN-1001111 Saposnik G, Guzik AK, Reeves M, Ovbiagele B, Johnston SC. Stroke prognostication using age and NIH Stroke Scale: SPAN-100. Neurology. 2013 Jan;80(1):21-8. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0b013e31827b1ace
https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0b013e31827b...
had an AUC that was smaller than that of the other scores, among our patients not treated with tPA. This scale included just two predictors (age and NIH stroke scale), among which age is taken to be an unclear predictor of HT by some authors44 Kalinin MN, Khasanova DR, Ibatullin MM. The hemorrhagic transformation index score: a prediction tool in middle cerebral artery ischemic stroke. BMC Neurol. 2017 Sep 7;17(1):177. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12883-017-0958-3
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12883-017-0958-...
,2525 Chacon-Portillo MA, Llinas RH, Marsh EB. Cerebral microbleeds shouldn't dictate treatment of acute stroke: a retrospective cohort study evaluating risk of intracerebral hemorrhage. BMC Neurol. 2018 Mar;18(1):33. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12883-018-1029-0
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12883-018-1029-...
2727 Valentino F, Gentile L, Terruso V, Mastrilli S, Aridon P, Ragonese P, et al. Frequency and determinants for hemorrhagic transformation of posterior cerebral stroke. BMC Res Notes. 2017 Nov;10(1):592. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-017-2889-x
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-017-2889-...
. On the other hand, although SPAN-1001111 Saposnik G, Guzik AK, Reeves M, Ovbiagele B, Johnston SC. Stroke prognostication using age and NIH Stroke Scale: SPAN-100. Neurology. 2013 Jan;80(1):21-8. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0b013e31827b1ace
https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0b013e31827b...
had the same cutoff between the groups, higher sensitivity was found in tPA-treated patients. This finding suggests that there is a need to pay attention to older patients with high NIHSS scores who are eligible for IV tPA.

Our results emphasize the value of external validation of prognostic scales, given that most of our results had accuracy values that were lower than those reported in the original derivation articles. We can infer that predictive scores are most accurate and reliable when patients from different centers and countries are included2828 Steyerberg EW, Moons KG, van der Windt DA, Hayden JA, Perel P, Schroter S, et al. Prognosis Research Strategy (PROGRESS) 3: prognostic model research. PLoS Med. 2013;10(2):e1001381. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001381
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.100...
. Also, we found that the scales had differences in discriminative properties among different samples or groups (i.e. patients treated or not treated with tPA).

Our study had several limitations. First, there was no blinded examiner to attest to the presence of HT, which was confirmed by a radiologist or a neurologist who was board-certified in Brazil. Second, we classified all patients as having any HT or no HT; we did not adopt the clinical classification of HT. Third, we only considered the HT criteria adopted in the ECASS II study2929 Hacke W, Kaste M, Fieschi C, Von Kummer R, Davalos A, Meier D, et al. Randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial of thrombolytic therapy with intravenous alteplase in acute ischaemic stroke (ECASS II). Lancet. 1998 Oct;352(9136):1245-51. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(98)08020-9
https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(98)08...
. Lastly, our dataset did not contain enough data to provide analysis on three published scales3030 Saposnik G, Fang J, Kapral MK, Tu JV, Mamdani M, Austin P, et al. The iScore predicts effectiveness of thrombolytic therapy for acute ischemic stroke. Stroke. 2012 Feb;43(5):1315-22. https://doi.org/10.1161/STROKEAHA.111.646265
https://doi.org/10.1161/STROKEAHA.111.64...
3232 Mazya M, Egido JA, Ford GA, Lees KR, Mikulik R, Toni D, et al. Predicting the risk of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage in ischemic stroke treated with intravenous alteplase: safe Implementation of Treatments in Stroke (SITS) symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage risk score. Stroke. 2012 Jun;43(6):1524-31. https://doi.org/10.1161/STROKEAHA.111.644815
https://doi.org/10.1161/STROKEAHA.111.64...
.

In conclusion, some of the currently available predictive scores of HT in the literature have moderate to fair accuracy for predicting HT, both among patients treated with tPA and among those without this treatment. This middling level of accuracy may be explained by some disparities in the clinical and radiological classification of HT and the time taken and technique used for neuroimaging follow-up. Considering HT in general, all the predictive scores evaluated had the same accuracy among patients treated with RT; however, among patients not treated with RT, three scales were most accurate for predicting HT.

Through standardizing these characteristics and including patients not treated with RT in a large multicenter series, more accurate predictive scores may be created.

  • Support: Dr. Andrade's visiting scholarship at Columbia University, New York City, is sponsored by the Capes Foundation, Ministry of Education, Brazil.

References

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    Zhang J, Yang Y, Sun H, Xing Y. Hemorrhagic transformation after cerebral infarction: current concepts and challenges. Ann Transl Med. 2014 Aug;2(8):81. https://doi.org/10.3978/j.issn.2305-5839.2014.08.08
    » https://doi.org/10.3978/j.issn.2305-5839.2014.08.08
  • 2
    Lindley RI, Wardlaw JM, Sandercock PA, Rimdusid P, Lewis SC, Signorini DF, et al. Frequency and risk factors for spontaneous hemorrhagic transformation of cerebral infarction. J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis. 2004 Nov-Dec;13(6):235-46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2004.03.003.
    » https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2004.03.003.
  • 3
    Álvarez-Sabín J, Maisterra O, Santamarina E, Kase CS. Factors influencing haemorrhagic transformation in ischaemic stroke. Lancet Neurol. 2013 Jul;12(7):689-705. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(13)70055-3.
    » https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(13)70055-3.
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    » https://doi.org/10.1186/s12883-017-0958-3
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    » https://doi.org/10.1161/STR.0000000000000152
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    » https://doi.org/10.1590/S0004-282X2012001100012
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    Thanvi BR, Treadwell S, Robinson T. Haemorrhagic transformation in acute ischaemic stroke following thrombolysis therapy: classification, pathogenesis and risk factors. Postgrad Med J. 2008 Aug;84(993):361-7. https://doi.org/10.1136/pgmj.2007.067058
    » https://doi.org/10.1136/pgmj.2007.067058
  • 8
    DeLong ER, DeLong DM, Clarke-Pearson DL. Comparing the areas under two or more correlated receiver operating characteristic curves: a nonparametric approach. Biometrics. 1988 Sep;44(3):837-45.
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    Lou M, Safdar A, Mehdiratta M, Kumar S, Schlaug G, Caplan L, et al. The HAT Score: a simple grading scale for predicting hemorrhage after thrombolysis. Neurology. 2008 Oct;71(18):1417-23. https://doi.org/10.1212/01.wnl.0000330297.58334.dd
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Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    14 Mar 2022
  • Date of issue
    May 2022

History

  • Received
    04 Mar 2021
  • Reviewed
    29 Apr 2021
  • Accepted
    07 June 2021
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