Cerebral atrophy is an independent risk factor for unfavorable outcome after spontaneous supratentorial intracerebral hemorrhage.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE To investigate the influence of cerebral atrophy on clinical outcome in patients with supratentorial intracerebral hemorrhage. METHODS Computed tomography scans of 320 patients included in a prospective, multicenter trial were used for a segmentation analysis to determine the supratentorial cerebral volume. A logistic regression analysis was used to explore its effect on outcome after 90 days in addition to other clinical and imaging parameters. RESULTS Cerebral volume loss significantly reduced the odds for favorable outcome after 90 days (odds ratio=0.91; confidence interval, 0.85-0.99; P=0.02). CONCLUSIONS Cerebral atrophy is an independent predictor of unfavorable outcome after intracerebral hemorrhage, indicating reduced functional recovery potential in these individuals.