• Jennifer Diedler, Marek Sykora, Philipp Hahn, Kristin Heerlein, Marion N Schölzke, Lars Kellert, Julian Bösel, Sven Poli, and Thorsten Steiner.
• Department of Neurology, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 400, Heidelberg, Germany. jennifer.diedler@med.uni-heidelberg.de
• Crit Care. 2010 Jan 1; 14 (2): R63.

IntroductionThe impact of anemia on functional outcome and mortality in patients suffering from non-traumatic intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) has not been investigated. Here, we assessed the relationship between hemoglobin (HB) levels and clinical outcome after ICH.MethodsOne hundred and ninety six patients suffering from supratentorial, non-traumatic ICH were extracted from our local stroke database (June 2004 to June 2006). Clinical and radiologic computed tomography data, HB levels on admission, mean HB values and nadir during hospital stay were recorded. Outcome was assessed at discharge and 3 months using the modified Rankin score (mRS).ResultsForty six (23.5%) patients achieved a favorable functional outcome (mRS ConclusionsWe report an association between low HB and poor outcome in patients with non-traumatic, supratentorial ICH. While a causal relationship could not be proven, previous experimental studies and studies in brain injured patients provide evidence for detrimental effects of anemia on brain metabolism. However, the potential risk of anemia must be balanced against the risk of harm from red blood cell infusion.

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