Cerebrospinal fluid volume as an early radiological factor for clinical course prediction after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. A pilot study

Abstract

Background: The pathological mechanisms following aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) are poorly understood. Limited clinical evidence exists on the association between cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) volume and the risk of delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) or cerebral vasospasm (CV). In this study, we raised the hypothesis that the amount of CSF or its ratio to hemorrhage blood volume, as determined from non-contrast Computed Tomography (NCCT) images taken on admission, could be a significant predictor for CV and DCI.

Methods: The pilot study included a retrospective analysis of NCCT scans of 49 SAH patients taken shortly after an aneurysm rupture (33 males, 16 females, mean age 56.4 ± 15 years). The SynthStrip and Slicer3D software tools were used to extract radiological factors - CSF, brain, and hemorrhage volumes from the NCCT images. The "pure" CSF volume (V_CSF) was estimated in the range of [-15, 15] Hounsfield units (HU).

Results: V_CSF was negatively associated with the risk of CV occurrence (p = 0.0049) and DCI (p = 0.0069), but was not associated with patients' outcomes. The hemorrhage volume (V_SAH) was positively associated with an unfavorable outcome (p = 0.0032) but was not associated with CV/DCI. The ratio V_SAH/V_CSF was positively associated with, both, DCI (p = 0.031) and unfavorable outcome (p = 0.002). The CSF volume normalized by the brain volume showed the highest characteristics for DCI prediction (AUC = 0.791, sensitivity = 0.80, specificity = 0.812) and CV prediction (AUC = 0.769, sensitivity = 0.812, specificity = 0.70).

Conclusion: It was demonstrated that "pure" CSF volume retrieved from the initial NCCT images of SAH patients (including CV, Non-CV, DCI, Non-DCI groups) is a more significant predictor of DCI and CV compared to other routinely used radiological biomarkers. V_CSF could be used to predict clinical course as well as to personalize the management of SAH patients. Larger multicenter clinical trials should be performed to test the added value of the proposed methodology.

Keywords: Cerebral vasospasm (CV); Delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI); Non-contrast computed tomography (NCCT); Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH).