The ABCs of measuring intracerebral hemorrhage volumes.
OBJECTIVE
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 degrees 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 = 9.6). Interrater and intrarater reliability were excellent, 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.
Kothari
R U
RU
Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Ohio 45267-0769, USA. Rashmikant.Kothari@uc.edu
Brott
T
T
Broderick
J P
JP
Barsan
W G
WG
Sauerbeck
L R
LR
Zuccarello
M
M
Khoury
J
J
D001810:Blood Volume / Q000502:physiology*; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007427:Intracranial Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards