Initial misdiagnosis of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: associating factors and its prognosis

Diagnosis of subarachnoid haemorrhage: Systematic evaluation of CT head diagnostic accuracy and comparison with the 2022 NICE guidelines

Introduction

Aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage has a high incidence, and morbidity. It has been suggested that a negative non-contrast CT head can rule out SAH if performed within 6 h of symptom onset.

Research question

What is the sensitivity of CT head at ruling out SAH stratified by time-point, and what is the potential impact of omitting Lumbar Puncture (LP) from the diagnostic pathway?

Material and methods

Systematic review and meta-analysis (PROSPEROID CRD42022379929). Three databases were searched, and articles published between January 2000-May 2022 included (Search date 27th November 2022). Primary objective was diagnostic accuracy of CT scans for detecting SAH at <6 h from symptom onset, including reported sensitivity, and specificity values.

Results

63 articles were included (38,237 patients, 7673 with SAH). Pooled CT head sensitivity was 0.94 for excluding SAH (22 studies, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 0.90-0.97). At <6 h, CT head sensitivity was 0.995 (6 studies, 95% CI 0.941-1.000). Most studies (57.1%, n = 36/63) were classified as high risk of bias. If LP was removed from the diagnostic pathway in the UK, assuming an incidence of 4800 SAH per-year, 336 SAH would be missed per-year, 24 per-year if LP was removed for negative CT < 6 h (95% CI 0-278) and 58 per-year if mean sensitivity is used (95% CI 0-240).

Discussion and conclusion

CT head appears to be highly sensitive at excluding SAH <6 h from symptom onset. High quality, prospective data is required to further established the utility of early (<6 h) negative CT head. We recommend that if there is strong clinical suspicion of SAH, yet CT head is reported negative <6 h of symptom onset, that a LP be performed.

Medical Malpractice and the Neurologist: Specific Neurological Claims

This chapter highlights the most frequently encountered neurological malpractice claims. The format is designed to provide a rudimentary understanding of how lawsuits arise and thereby focus discussion on adapting practice patterns to improve patient care and minimize liability risk.

Duration between aneurysm rupture and treatment and its association with outcome in aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage

Timely treatment of aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage (aSAH) is key to prevent further rupture and poor outcome. We evaluated complications and outcome adjusting for time from haemorrhage to treatment. Retrospective analysis of aSAH patients admitted between 2006 and 2020. Data was collected using standardized case report forms. We compared risk factors using multivariable logistic regression. We included 853 patients, 698 (81.8%) were treated within 24 h. Patients with higher Hunt and Hess grades were admitted and treated significantly faster than those with lower grades (overall p-value < 0.001). Fifteen patients (1.8%) rebled before intervention. In the multivariable logistic analysis adjusting for timing, Barrow Neurological Institute score and intracerebral haemorrhage were significantly associated with rebleeding (overall p-value 0.006; OR 3.12, 95%CI 1.09-8.92, p = 0.03, respectively) but timing was not. Treatment > 24 h was associated with higher mortality and cerebral infarction in only the subgroup of lower grades aSAH (OR 3.13, 1.02-9.58 95%CI, p-value = 0.05; OR 7.69, 2.44-25.00, p-value < 0.001, respectively). Therefore treatment > 24 h after rupture is associated with higher mortality and cerebral infarction rates in lower grades aSAH. Delay in treatment primarily affects lower grade aSAH patients. Patients with lower grade aSAH ought to be treated with the same urgency as higher-grade aSAH.

A novel visual dynamic nomogram to online predict the risk of unfavorable outcome in elderly aSAH patients after endovascular coiling: A retrospective study

Background

Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the world. Dynamic nomogram to predict the prognosis of elderly aSAH patients after endovascular coiling has not been reported. Thus, we aimed to develop a clinically useful dynamic nomogram to predict the risk of 6-month unfavorable outcome in elderly aSAH patients after endovascular coiling.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective study including 209 elderly patients admitted to the People's Hospital of Hunan Province for aSAH from January 2016 to June 2021. The main outcome measure was 6-month unfavorable outcome (mRS ≥ 3). We used multivariable logistic regression analysis and forwarded stepwise regression to select variables to generate the nomogram. We assessed the discriminative performance using the area under the curve (AUC) of receiver-operating characteristic and the risk prediction model's calibration using the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test. The decision curve analysis (DCA) and the clinical impact curve (CIC) were used to measure the clinical utility of the nomogram.

Results

The cohort's median age was 70 (interquartile range: 68-74) years and 133 (36.4%) had unfavorable outcomes. Age, using a ventilator, white blood cell count, and complicated with cerebral infarction were predictors of 6-month unfavorable outcome. The AUC of the nomogram was 0.882 and the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test showed good calibration of the nomogram (p = 0.3717). Besides, the excellent clinical utility and applicability of the nomogram had been indicated by DCA and CIC. The eventual value of unfavorable outcome risk could be calculated through the dynamic nomogram.

Conclusion

This study is the first visual dynamic online nomogram that accurately predicts the risk of 6-month unfavorable outcome in elderly aSAH patients after endovascular coiling. Clinicians can effectively improve interventions by taking targeted interventions based on the scores of different items on the nomogram for each variable.

Cognitive biases encountered by physicians in the emergency room

Background

Diagnostic errors constitute an important medical safety problem that needs improvement, and their frequency and severity are high in emergency room settings. Previous studies have suggested that diagnostic errors occur in 0.6-12% of first-time patients in the emergency room and that one or more cognitive factors are involved in 96% of these cases. This study aimed to identify the types of cognitive biases experienced by physicians in emergency rooms in Japan.

Methods

We conducted a questionnaire survey using Nikkei Medical Online (Internet) from January 21 to January 31, 2019. Of the 159,519 physicians registered with Nikkei Medical Online when the survey was administered, those who volunteered their most memorable diagnostic error cases in the emergency room participated in the study. EZR was used for the statistical analyses.

Results

A total of 387 physicians were included. The most common cognitive biases were overconfidence (22.5%), confirmation (21.2%), availability (12.4%), and anchoring (11.4%). Of the error cases, the top five most common initial diagnoses were upper gastrointestinal disease (22.7%), trauma (14.7%), cardiovascular disease (10.9%), respiratory disease (7.5%), and primary headache (6.5%). The corresponding final diagnoses for these errors were intestinal obstruction or peritonitis (27.3%), overlooked traumas (47.4%), other cardiovascular diseases (66.7%), cardiovascular disease (41.4%), and stroke (80%), respectively.

Conclusions

A comparison of the initial and final diagnoses of cases with diagnostic errors shows that there were more cases with diagnostic errors caused by overlooking another disease in the same organ or a disease in a closely related organ.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12873-022-00708-3.

Neuroimaging of Headache: Indications and Controversies

Headache is a common presenting symptom in the ambulatory setting that often prompts imaging. The increased use and associated health care money spent in the setting of headache have raised questions about the cost-effectiveness of neuroimaging in this setting. Neuroimaging for headache in most cases is unlikely to reveal significant abnormality or impact patient management. In this article, reasons behind an observed increase in neuroimaging and its impact on health care expenditures are discussed. The typical imaging modalities available and various imaging guidelines for common clinical headache scenarios are presented, including recommendations from the American College of Radiology.

Artificial Intelligence Trained by Deep Learning Can Improve Computed Tomography Diagnosis of Nontraumatic Subarachnoid Hemorrhage by Nonspecialists

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is a serious cerebrovascular disease with a high mortality rate and is known as a disease that is hard to diagnose because it may be overlooked by noncontrast computed tomography (NCCT) examinations that are most frequently used for diagnosis. To create a system preventing this oversight of SAH, we trained artificial intelligence (AI) with NCCT images obtained from 419 patients with nontraumatic SAH and 338 healthy subjects and created an AI system capable of diagnosing the presence and location of SAH. Then, we conducted experiments in which five neurosurgery specialists, five nonspecialists, and the AI system interpreted NCCT images obtained from 135 patients with SAH and 196 normal subjects. The AI system was capable of performing a diagnosis of SAH with equal accuracy to that of five neurosurgery specialists, and the accuracy was higher than that of nonspecialists. Furthermore, the diagnostic accuracy of four out of five nonspecialists improved by interpreting NCCT images using the diagnostic results of the AI system as a reference, and the number of oversight cases was significantly reduced by the support of the AI system. This is the first report demonstrating that an AI system improved the diagnostic accuracy of SAH by nonspecialists.

Ruptured intracranial aneurysm presenting as cerebral circulation insufficiency: A case report

BACKGROUND

Rupture of an intracranial aneurysm is a type of acute stroke that is a serious threat to human health. Misdiagnosis of ruptured intracranial aneurysms is a serious clinical event that may have disastrous consequences in some patients. To date, ruptured intracranial aneurysms have been misdiagnosed as meningitis, tumors, stroke, or trauma, among other conditions. Here, we report what appears to be the first case of a ruptured intracranial aneurysm that presented as cerebral circulation insufficiency.

CASE SUMMARY

A middle-aged man was admitted to our hospital because of a parasellar lesion identified on a noncontrast computed tomography (CT) image after a mild traffic accident that was caused by a brief loss of consciousness. Notably, he was diagnosed with cerebral circulation insufficiency after two unexplained episodes of a transient loss of consciousness within the past 8 mo. The patient was diagnosed with right internal carotid artery aneurysm based on CT angiography and completely recovered after a craniotomy at our hospital. A few clots and severe adhesions around the aneurysm were observed in the subarachnoid space during the operation, suggesting that the aneurysm had ruptured and may had been misdiagnosed as cerebral circulation insufficiency.

CONCLUSION

Ruptured intracranial aneurysms may show negative imaging results and present as cerebral circulation insufficiency, which should be recognized as soon as possible to ensure timely management.

Missed Diagnosis of Subarachnoid Haemorrhage

A 79-year-old woman presented with left retro-orbital pain, headache and blurred vision. Based on negative radiological tests, life-threatening conditions like subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) were ruled out and outpatient follow-up was planned. However, the patient returned to the hospital that night because of progressively declining consciousness and was diagnosed with SAH by head computed tomography. The diagnosis of SAH is often challenging, especially in cases with negative radiological results. We describe some strategies, other than radiological examination, for ruling out SAH, such as performing a lumbar puncture and repeating tests to take account of disease progression, and describe biases which can affect clinical decision-making.

LEARNING POINTS

A high diagnostic error rate highlights the difficulty in diagnosing subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH).Headache together with oculomotor nerve palsy is an important symptom of SAH.If SAH is suspected, further diagnostic measures including lumber puncture are warranted.A strategy of repeating tests to take account of disease progression would also be effective.

Diagnosis and Initial Emergency Department Management of Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Atraumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage represents a small proportion of strokes, but is a true medical emergency that results in significant morbidity and mortality. Making the diagnosis can be challenging and misdiagnosis can result in devastating consequences. There are several time-dependent diagnostic and management considerations for emergency physicians and other frontline providers. This article reviews the most up-to-date literature on the diagnostic workup of subarachnoid hemorrhage, avoiding misdiagnosis, and initial emergency department management recommendations.