Title: How Good are Emergency Physicians in Estimating ICH Volume?<br/>Author: WanTsu Wendy Chang<br/><a href='http://umem.org/profiles/faculty/1322/'>[Click to email author]</a><hr/><ul style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: -webkit-standard;"> <li> <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) volume is a predictor of mortality and clinical outcome.</span></span></li> <li> <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Communicating ICH volume to neurosurgical and neurocritical care consultants can help direct treatment decisions.</span></span></li> <li> <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">ICH volume can be estimated using the <strong>ABC/2</strong> formula:</span></span> <ul> <li> <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Select the CT slice with the largest area of the hemorrhage (reference slice)</span></span></li> <li> <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><strong>A</strong> = Measure the largest diameter</span></span></li> <li> <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><strong>B</strong> = Measure the largest diameter <i>perpendicular </i>to A</span></span></li> <li> <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><strong>C</strong> = Multiply the number of CT slices with the hemorrhage by the slice thickness</span></span> <ul> <li> <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Slices with 25-75% of the hematoma volume compared to the reference slice count as 1/2 slice</i></span></span></li> <li> <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Slices with <25% of the hematoma volume compared to the reference slice do not count</i></span></span></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <p style="margin-left: 80px;"> <img alt="" src="http://umem.org/files/uploads/content/pearls/neuro/20190109_Figure.jpg" style="width: 438px; height: 535px;" /></p> <ul style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: -webkit-standard;"> <li> <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">A recent study by Dsouza <i>et al</i>. found that EM attendings as well as EM trainees were reliable in estimating ICH volume using ABC/2 compared to radiologists.</span></span></li> </ul> <p> <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><strong><u>Bottom Line</u>: </strong> EPs can reliably estimate ICH volume using the ABC/2 formula. Communicating ICH volume to neurosurgical and neurocritical care consultants can help direct treatment decisions.</span></span></span></p> <fieldset><legend>References</legend>
<p> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Dsouza LB, Pathan SA, Bhutta ZA, <em>et al</em></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">. ABC/2 estimation in intracerebral hemorrhage: A comparison study between emergency radiologists and emergency physicians. <em>Am J Emerg Med</em></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">. 2018 Dec 19. [Epub ahead of print]</span></p> <p style="text-align: center;"> <em><strong><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Follow me on Twitter @EM_NCC</span></strong></em></p> </fieldset>