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MRI-Based Prediction of Macrovascular Causes of Intracerebral Hemorrhage: The MACRO Score

Fandler-Hofler, Simon; Ambler, Gareth; Goeldlin, Martina B; Obergottsberger, Lena; Wunsch, Gerit; Kneihsl, Markus; Zhang, Wenpeng; ... Werring, David J; + view all (2024) MRI-Based Prediction of Macrovascular Causes of Intracerebral Hemorrhage: The MACRO Score. Neurology , 103 (10) , Article e209950. 10.1212/WNL.0000000000209950. Green open access

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Abstract

Background and Objectives: Although most spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhages (ICHs) are due to cerebral small vessel diseases (SVDs), between 1 in 7 and 1 in 10 are due to a macrovascular cause. Rapid diagnosis has important therapeutic and prognostic implications but sometimes requires digital subtraction angiography (DSA), an invasive procedure which cannot be performed in all patients. MRI provides optimal sensitivity for markers of SVD but was not included in previous risk stratification scores. We aimed to create and validate a risk stratification score for macrovascular causes of ICH including MRI findings to guide diagnosis and further investigations. // Methods: We pooled data from 2 large observational study cohorts (London/United Kingdom and Graz/Austria) of consecutive patients with ICH who had brain MRI and at least 1 angiographic modality within 90 days of symptom onset. The primary outcome was a macrovascular cause of ICH (arteriovenous malformation/dural arteriovenous fistula, aneurysm, cavernoma, or cerebral venous thrombosis), with the diagnosis based on neurovascular multidisciplinary meetings. Using lasso logistic regression, we built the MRI Assessment of the Causes of intRacerebral haemOrrhage (MACRO) score to assess the probability of a macrovascular cause. We performed internal validation using bootstrapping and external validation in an independent cohort (Bern/Switzerland). // Results: We included 1,043 patients with ICH (mean age 66 years, 42% female), 78 of whom had a macrovascular cause (7.5%). The final score includes age (0–39, 40–69, or ≥70), location of ICH (lobar, deep, or infratentorial), and SVD markers on MRI (≥1 microbleed, ≥1 lacune, presence of cortical superficial siderosis, or white matter hyperintensities using the Fazekas scale). The MACRO score showed an optimism-adjusted c-statistic of 0.90 (95% CI 0.88–0.93), superior to existing CT-based scores (p < 0.001). In external validation, the c-statistic was 0.87 (95% CI 0.80–0.94). MACRO scores ≥6 (59.5% of patients) indicated a very low risk of a macrovascular cause (0.2%), while scores ≤2 (9% of patients) indicated a high risk (48.9%). // Discussion: The MRI-based MACRO score shows excellent performance in predicting the likelihood of macrovascular causes of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage, making it useful in guiding further investigations. Important limitations include the observational study design and the performance of DSA in a minority of patients.

Type: Article
Title: MRI-Based Prediction of Macrovascular Causes of Intracerebral Hemorrhage: The MACRO Score
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000209950
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1212/wnl.0000000000209950
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American Academy of Neurology. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Statistical Science
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10216770
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