Optic Nerve Sheath Diameter is not a predictor of functional outcomes in ICH Patients

Objectives: Optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) may serve as an early marker of increasing intracranial pressure resulting from intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). We investigated if changes in ONSD can predict 90-day functional outcomes in ICH patients. Materials and Methods: We utilized ERICH (Ethnic/Racial Variations of Intracerebral Hemorrhage), a prospective, multi-center, case-control study of 3000 patients. We included patients with baseline and follow-up head CT with available outcomes. We measured change in ONSD from baseline and follow-up CT within a 6 (±1) hour window. Our primary outcome was the 90-day Modified Rankin (mRS) score. We compared patients with good (mRS 0-3) versus poor outcomes (mRS 4-6) to presence of significant change in ONSD using univariate analysis. We did an analysis of variance to assess for differences in ONSD. Results: Of 93 ICH patients who fit the inclusion criteria, the mean age was 64.1 (SD +/- 14.6), with 36.6 % being females. Forty-nine patients (47.1 %) had significant ONSD change between baseline and follow-up CT. ONSD change in the poor outcome group was not significantly different than that of the good outcome group in both the right and left hemispheres (p = 0.21 and p = 0.63 respectively). Conclusions: We found that early change in the ONSD within the first 6 h of presentation in patients with ICH does not predict functional outcomes at three months.