Background and Purpose: Although stroke is the leading cause of death in Brazil, little information exist on the acute treatment provided for stroke and its associated costs. This study addresses this gap by both clinically and economically characterizing the acute treatment of first-ever intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and ischemic stroke (IS) in Brazil. Methods: Retrospective medical chart review using data from two high-volume stroke centers in São Paulo, Brazil. Clinical and resource utilization data for all patients admitted to the stroke centers with a first-ever stroke between January 1, 2006 and May 31, 2007 were collected and the mean acute treatment costs per person were calculated by assigning appropriate unit cost data to all resource use. Cost estimates in Brazilian reals (BRL) were converted to US dollars (USD) using the 2005 purchasing power parity index. National costs of acute treatment for incident strokes were estimated by extrapolation of mean cost estimate per person to national incidence data for the two types of stroke. The mean costs of acute treatment on a national scale were examined in sensitivity analysis. Results: A total of 316 stroke patients were identified and their demographic and clinical characteristics, patterns of care, and outcomes were examined. Mean length of hospital stay was 12.0 ± 8.8 days for ICH and 13.3 ±23.4 days for IS. Ninety-one percent of the ICH patients and 68% of the IS patients were admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU). Mean total costs of initial hospitalization were USD 4,101 (SD ±4,254) for ICH and USD 1,902 (SD ±1,426) for IS. In multivariate analysis, hemorrhagic stroke, development of pneumonia, neurosurgical intervention, stay in ICU, and physical therapy were all significant independent predictors of acute treatment costs. Aggregate national health care expenditures for acute treatment of incident ICH were USD 122.4 million (range 30.8–274.2) and USD 326.9 million for IS (range 82.4–732.2). Conclusion: Acute treatment costs of incident ICH and IS in Brazil are substantial and primarily driven by the intensity of hospital treatment and in-hospital complications. With the expected increase in the incidence of stroke in Brazil over the coming decades, these results emphasize the need for effective preventive and acute medical care.

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Resumo -A hemorragia intraparenquimatosa cerebral (HIC) é o subtipo de AVC de pior prognóstico e com tratamento ainda controverso em diversos aspectos. O comitê executivo da Sociedade Brasileira de Doenças Cerebrovasculares, através de uma revisão ampla dos artigos publicados em revistas indexadas, elaborou sugestões e recomendações que são aqui descritas com suas respectivas classificações de níveis de evidência. Estas diretrizes foram elaboradas com o objetivo de prover o leitor de um racional para o manejo apropriado dos pacientes com HIC, baseado em evidências clínicas.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: hemorragia intraparenquimatosa cerebral, recomendações, tratamento. Brazilian guidelines for the manegement of intracerebral hemorrhageAbstract -Among the stroke subtypes, intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) has the worst prognosis and still lacks a specific treatment. The present manuscript contains the Brazilian guidelines for the management of ICH. It was elaborated by the executive committee of the Brazilian Cerebrovascular Diseases Society and was based on a broad review of articles about the theme. The text aims to provide a rational for the management of patients with an acute ICH, with the diagnostic and therapeutic resources that are available in Brazil.

Background: Early hospital admission followed by correct diagnosis with minimum delay is a prerequisite for successful new interventions in acute intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). The aim of this study was to evaluate clinical features associated with early hospital arrival in ICH patients and their influence on the outcome. Methods: Data from all patients arriving within 24 h of the ICH onset were prospectively collected at 2 stroke centers in São Paulo, Brazil. The cutoff of 3 h was chosen to select 2 groups: 0–3 h (early) and >3–24 h (late). Results: We identified 91 ICH patients (mean age 57.9 years, 62% men, 63% white) admitted within the first 24 h of symptom onset between March 2004 and April 2005. Systolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure and pulse pressure were significantly higher in patients arriving within 3 h. Patients that arrived early also had a higher NIHSS score (p = 0.003), a lower Glasgow Coma Score (p = 0.001) and presence of intraventricular hemorrhage (p = 0.02). Lower ICH scores were more frequent in those that arrived late. Fourteen patients showed hematoma enlargement and the majority of them (n = 13) were admitted within the first 3 h from symptom onset (p = 0.01). Patients who arrived within the 3-hour window had a higher 30-day mortality (p = 0.0008) and a worse Rankin score after 6 months (p = 0.001). Conclusions: Treatment decisions in acute ICH may need to establish new combined approaches to maximize the number of eligible patients for early therapy considering the interactions between independent outcome predictors presented at early onset.

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