Is the CT Blend Sign Composed of Two Parts of Blood with Different Age?

Blend sign on initial computed tomography (CT) is associated with poor outcome in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). However, the mechanisms underlying the blend sign formation are poorly understood. The present study aimed to explore the possible mechanism of the CT blend sign in patients with ICH.

Seventy healthy rabbits were selected to prepare an ICH model. The animals were assigned to a whole blood group + whole blood group (ww group, 50 rabbits), a whole blood + plasma group (wp group, 10 rabbits) or a whole blood + serum group (ws group, 10 rabbits). The animals of the ww group were allocated to five subgroups based on the interval between the first infusion of blood and the second one. The subgroups included ww 1 h group (with an interval of 1 h), ww 2 h group, ww 3 h group, ww 4 h group and ww 5 h group. The rabbits from each group received first infusion of 0.3 mL of whole blood into the basal ganglia area to form a hematoma. Then, they received a second infusion of the same amount of whole blood, plasma or serum into the brain to form another hematoma adjacent to the first one.

A hematoma with two densities on brain CT could be formed in each group after a second infusion of blood into the brain. A significant difference in CT attenuation values was observed between the hyperattenuation and the hypoattenuation in all the groups. However, only the morphological features of the hematoma in the ww group was in accordance with the CT blend sign observed in humans. The CT attenuation values in the hypodensity area of the ww 4 h group or the ww 5 h group were decreased compared with the ww 1 h group to the ww 3 h group.

The CT blend sign observed in humans might be composed of two parts of blood with different ages. The hypodense area might be blood with older age and the hyperdense area might be new bleeding.