Abstract
AIM: To explore the predictive values of different small vessel disease (SVD) scores on functional recoveries and the clinical cerebrovascular events in mild intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). METHODS: In this study, we enrolled conscious and mild ICH patients without surgery and further divided them into the cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA)-ICH group and hypertension (HTN)-ICH group. The severity of individual SVD markers, including lacunes, cerebral microbleeds (CMBs), enlarged perivascular spaces (EPVS), white matter hyperintensity (WMH), and cortical superficial siderosis (cSS), was evaluated. The original SVD score, modified SVD score, refined SVD score, and CAA-SVD score and the total number of SVD markers were further calculated. Functional recoveries were evaluated using the modified Rankin scale. Recurrences of stroke were defined as readmission to the hospital with a definite diagnosis of stroke. RESULTS: A total of 163 ICH patients (60 CAA-ICH and 103 HTN-ICH) were included in the study. The CAA-SVD score (OR=3.429; 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.518-7.748) had the best predictive effect on functional dependence in the CAA-ICH group, among which cSS severities probably played a vital role (OR=4.665; 95% CI=1.388-15.679). The total number of SVD markers [hazard ratio (HR)=3.765; 95% CI=1.467-9.663] can better identify stroke recurrences in CAA-ICH. In HTN-ICH, while the total number of SVD markers (HR=2.136; 95% CI=1.218-3.745) also demonstrated association with recurrent stroke, this effect seems to be related with the influence of lacunes (HR=5.064; 95% CI=1.697-15.116). CONCLUSIONS: The CAA-SVD score and the total number of SVD markers might identify mild CAA-ICH patients with poor prognosis. However, it would be better to focus on lacunes rather than on the overall burden of SVD to predict recurrent strokes in HTN-ICH.