Validation of the newly conceived Surgical Swedish ICH grading scale for surgically treated patients with intracerebral hemorrhage: patient series

BACKGROUND: The authors sought to externally validate a newly developed clinical grading scale, the Surgical Swedish ICH (SwICH) score. Patients surgically treated for spontaneous supratentorial intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) from 2009 to 2019 in a single center in Denmark were identified. Data were retrospectively collected from patient records and neuroimaging. Surgical SwICH and ICH scores were calculated for each patient, and the validity of the Surgical SwICH was assessed and compared. OBSERVATIONS: The 126 patients included had an overall 30-day mortality rate of 23%. All patients with a Surgical SwICH score of 0 survived past one year. No patient scored the maximum Surgical SwICH score of 6. The 30-day mortality rates for Surgical SwICH scores 1, 2, 3, and 4 were 0%, 20%, 53%, and 25%, respectively (p <0.0001 for trend). Mortality rates for ICH scores 1, 2, 3, and 4 were 0%, 11%, 33%, and 76%, respectively (p <0.001 for trend). Receiver operator characteristics showed an area under curve of 0.78 for the Surgical SwICH score and 0.80 for the ICH score (p = 0.21 difference). LESSONS: The Surgical SwICH score was a good predictor of 30-day mortality in patients surgically treated for spontaneous supratentorial ICH. However, the Surgical SwICH score did not outperform the previously established ICH score in predicting 30-day mortality.