Abstract
ObjectRandomized trials have demonstrated the efficacy of craniectomy for the treatment of malignant cerebral edema following ischemic stroke. We sought to determine the prevalence and outcomes related to this by using a national database.MethodsPatient discharges with ischemic stroke as the primary diagnosis undergoing craniectomy were queried from the US Nationwide Inpatient Sample from 1999 to 2008. A subpopulation of patients was identified that underwent thrombolysis. Two primary end points were examined: in-hospital mortality and discharge to home/routine care. To facilitate interpretations, adjusted prevalence was calculated from the overall prevalence and two age-specific logistic regression models. The predictive margin was then generated using a multivariate logistic regression model to estimate the probability of in-hospital mortality after adjustment for admission type, admission source, length of stay, total hospital charges, chronic comorbidities, and medical complications.ResultsAfter excluding 71,996 patients with the diagnosis of intracranial hemorrhage and posterior intracranial circulation occlusion, we identified 4,248,955 adult hospitalizations with ischemic stroke as a primary diagnosis. The estimated rates of hospitalizations in craniectomy per 10,000 hospitalizations with ischemic stroke increased from 3.9 in 1999–2000 to 14.46 in 2007–2008 (p for linear trend<0.001). Patients 60+ years of age had in-hospital mortality of 44% while the 18–59 year old group was found to be 24%(p = 0.14). Outcomes were comparable if recombinant tissue plasminogen activator had been administered.ConclusionsCraniectomy is being increasingly performed for malignant cerebral edema following large territory cerebral ischemia. We suspect that the increase in the annual incidence of DC for malignant cerebral edema is directly related to the expanding collection of evidence in randomized trials that the operation is efficacious when performed in the correct patient population. In hospital mortality is high for all patients undergoing this procedure.
Highlights
The surgical treatment of life-threatening, space-occupying cerebral edema following massive middle cerebral artery infarction, so-called ‘‘malignant’’ infarction, remains a controversial issue
Only case series and nonrandomized case control studies suggested any benefit of decompressive craniectomy (DC).[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]
During 199922008 we identified 884,729 adult hospitalizations with ischemic stroke as a primary diagnosis in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), representing 4,320,950 hospitalizations across the United States during this time period. (Figure 1) After excluding 71,995 patients with the diagnosis of intracranial hemorrhage and patients with the diagnosis of posterior intracranial circulation occlusion, our sample size was 4,248,955 hospitalizations
Summary
The surgical treatment of life-threatening, space-occupying cerebral edema following massive middle cerebral artery infarction, so-called ‘‘malignant’’ infarction, remains a controversial issue. There has been a reluctance to perform this operation given high rate of mortality and profound morbidity associated with survivors. Only case series and nonrandomized case control studies suggested any benefit of decompressive craniectomy (DC).[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8] Several recent randomized controlled trials have demonstrated improved survival and functional outcome after DC in certain populations. [9,10,11] The findings from these randomized controlled trials are recapitulated in several recent reviews.[3] [12,13] We sought to identify trends in the prevalence and outcomes of DC for malignant cerebral infarction using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), the largest all-payer representative sample of the US medical community Only case series and nonrandomized case control studies suggested any benefit of decompressive craniectomy (DC).[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8] Several recent randomized controlled trials have demonstrated improved survival and functional outcome after DC in certain populations. [9,10,11] The findings from these randomized controlled trials are recapitulated in several recent reviews.[3] [12,13] We sought to identify trends in the prevalence and outcomes of DC for malignant cerebral infarction using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), the largest all-payer representative sample of the US medical community
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