[Predicting recovery of ambulatory function after hypertensive putaminal hemorrhage by multivariate analysis of...

In 66 patients with hypertensive putaminal hemorrhage, several acute-phase clinical parameters were subjected to multivariate analysis and the usefulness of such analysis in predicting the eventual recovery of ambulatory function was evaluated. Seven items were studied: age, laterality of the lesion, computed tomography classification, hematoma volume, level of consciousness on admission, severity of motor impairment of the affected leg on admission, and the treatment employed. A numerical prediction of ambulatory function was derived from an equation in which each item was scored and weighted. This value was compared with that of the actual ambulatory ability several months after onset, as rated on a 5-point scale. In these 66 cases, the predicted and actual outcomes were well correlated (r = 0.871). The results indicate that an accurate prognosis can be made on the basis of clinical data obtained in the acute phase of putaminal hemorrhage.