Risk factors for mortality in patients with non-traumatic pontine hemorrhage

Objectives - For patients with non-traumatic pontine hemorrhage (PH) who will survive, determining prognosis is vital for appropriate therapeutic planning in the acute stage. This study aimed to determine reliable prognostic factors of mortality in patients with PH. Materials and methods - The cases of a total of 118 consecutive PH patients were reviewed. We compared clinical and radiological characteristics between patients who died and survivors by the log-rank test and performed multivariate analysis by the Cox proportional hazards model using variables that were marginally or significantly associated with PH-related death on the log-rank test (P < 0.20). Results - The median length of follow-up was 51 days (interquartile range: 7-742 days). Sixty-six patients (56%) died and 52 (44%) survived during follow-up period. Multivariate analysis showed that Glasgow Coma Scale score < 9, hyperthermia (a core temperature of >= 39 degrees C), maximum hematoma diameter more than 27 mm, and hematoma extension to midbrain and/or thalamus were significantly related to PH-related death. The Kaplan-Meier method showed that patients without these four factors had successively longer period at PH-related death (21 patients without factors: mean 2900 days; 97 patients with at least one of four factors: mean 820 days). Conclusions - Promptly identifying PH patients who are most likely die is important. The decision to stop life support in patients with PH is difficult, but factors, which are shown in this study, may be used to determine the level of care.