The ABCs of measuring intracerebral hemorrhage volumes

Abstract

Background and Purpose: Hemorrhage volume is a powerful predictor of 30- day mortality after spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). We compared a bedside method of measuring CT ICH volume with measurements made by computer- assisted planimetric image analysis. Methods: The formula ABC/2 was used, where A is the greatest hemorrhage diameter by CT, B is the diameter 90° to A, and C is the approximate number of CT slices with hemorrhage multiplied by the slice thickness. Results: The ICH volumes for 118 patients were evaluated in a mean of 38 seconds and correlated with planimetric measurements (R2= .96). Interrater and intrarater reliability were excel lent, with an intraclass correlation of .99 for both. Conclusions: We conclude that ICH volume can be accurately estimated in less than 1 minute with the simple formula ABC/2.