Development and validation of a novel nomogram to predict aneurysm rupture in patients with multiple intracranial...

Approximately 15%-45% of patients with unruptured intracranial aneurysms have multiple intracranial aneurysms (MIAs). Determining which one is most likely to rupture is extremely important for treatment decision making for MIAs patients. This study aimed to develop and validate a nomogram to evaluate the per-aneurysm rupture risk of MIAs patients.

A total of 1671 IAs from 700 patients with MIAs were randomly dichotomised into derivation and validation sets. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to select predictors and construct a nomogram model for aneurysm rupture risk assessment in the derivation set. The discriminative accuracy, calibration performance and clinical usefulness of this nomogram were assessed. We also developed a multivariate model for a subgroup of 158 subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) patients and compared its performance with the nomogram model.

Multivariate analyses identified seven variables that were significantly associated with IA rupture (history of SAH, alcohol consumption, female sex, aspect ratio >1.5, posterior circulation, irregular shape and bifurcation location). The clinical and morphological-based MIAs (CMB-MIAs) nomogram model showed good calibration and discrimination (derivation set: area under the curve (AUC)=0.740 validation set: AUC=0.772). Decision curve analysis demonstrated that the nomogram was clinically useful. Compared with the nomogram model, the AUC of multivariate model developed from SAH patients had lower value of 0.730.

This CMB-MIAs nomogram for MIAs rupture risk is the first to be developed and validated in a large multi-institutional cohort. This nomogram could be used in decision-making and risk stratification in MIAs patients.