A precise, simple, convenient and new method for estimation of intracranial hematoma volume--the formula 2/3Sh

The formula 1/2abc was a relatively reliable technique for the estimation of mostly intracranial hematoma volume, but its accuracy was prone to be affected by some particular shapes of hematoma, such as multinodular, separated and so on. In this work, we aimed to validate a more accurate method for the estimation of intracranial hematoma volume, which were free limitations of axial slices shapes.

We investigated the computed tomography (CT) scans of 186 patients with intracranial hematoma. The volume values of 186 intracranial hematomas were respectively assessed using five different methods.

For the formula 2/3Sh, the excellent correlation coefficient obtained using Pearson and Spearman's coefficients were 0.990 and 0.990, respectively. Meanwhile, the estimated intracranial hematoma volume using the formula 2/3Sh was fairly precise, with a <1% (-0.00+/-0.14, p>0.05) underestimation. However, the intracranial hematoma volume values were estimated by the formulas 1/2abc, Tada and 1/3abc, in comparison with the gold standard (43.16+/-37.55 ml), were 45.98+/-39.97 ml (p>0.05) with a 5% (0.05+/-0.25, p<0.05) overestimation, 48.12+/-41.84 ml (p>0.05) with 10% (0.10+/-0.26, p<0.05) overestimation and 30.65+/-26.65 ml (p<0.05) with a nearly 29% (-0.29+/-0.16, p<0.05) underestimation, respectively.

Owing to the area, length and width of the largest axial hematoma slice clearly marked in CT imaging, the formula 2/3Sh in comparison with other methods was a precise, simple and convenient estimation technique.