Introduction: No proven treatments exist for intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Carefully selected patients may benefit from surgery, and an international multicenter trial is ongoing. We sought to determine how many patients in a population-based ICH cohort would have been eligible for surgery using the Surgical Trial in Intracerebral Hemorrhage II (STICH II) criteria.
Methods: We identified all patients aged > or =18 years residing in the five-county Greater Cincinnati region who were hospitalized with first-ever nontraumatic ICH in 2005. STICH II trial criteria were used to determine eligibility for treatment and reasons for exclusion.
Results: During 2005, 286 ICH patients were identified (103 lobar, 126 deep cerebral, 23 brainstem, 28 cerebellar, and 6 IVH). Non-lobar hemorrhages are not eligible for STICH II. Among patients with lobar hemorrhage, 22 had no exclusions. The most common (not mutually exclusive) reasons for exclusion were volume <10 cc or >100 cc (n = 46) and presence of IVH (n = 27). No significant age, gender or racial differences existed between eligible and ineligible patients with lobar ICH. Only one (4.5%) of the 22 STICH II eligible patients in our population had surgery, compared with eight of 81 (9.9%) ineligible lobar ICH patients (P = 0.43). Mortality at 180 days in STICH II eligible patients was 36% vs. 49% for ineligible lobar ICH patients (P = 0.19).
Conclusions: In this population-based ICH cohort, 7.7% (22 of 286) of ICH patients would have qualified for STICH II enrollment. Other treatment options need to be explored for most ICH patients.