Decompressive Craniectomy for Spontaneous Intracerebral Hemorrhage: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background: Spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (sICH) is a devastating disease with high mortality and morbidity, and the application of decompressive craniectomy (DC) in sICH is controversial. We conducted a systematic review to verify the effects of DC on improving outcome in sICH.

Methods: Through searching several electronic databases, we screened eligible publications. Respective risk ratio (RR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated, data were synthesized with a fixed-effect model, and sensitivity analyses and subgroup analyses were performed. Publication bias was measured with Begg and Egger tests.

Results: Overall effect showed that DC significantly reduced the poor outcome compared with the control group (RR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.84-0.99; P = 0.03). But in the subgroup analyses, only studies published after 2010, studies using hematoma evacuation as control, and studies measuring outcome with Glasgow outcome score showed better outcomes in the DC group than in the control group. The other subgroup analyses and sensitivity analyses achieved inconsistent results. Compared with the control group, DC effectively decreased mortality (RR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.53-0.85; P = 0.0008). The sensitivity analyses and subgroup analyses achieved consistent results.

Conclusions: The application of DC effectively reduced mortality in patients with sICH. DC might improve functional outcomes in certain populations and needs further verification. DC is not associated with increased incidences of postoperative rebleeding and hydrocephalus.