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Prediction of Target Epidural Blood Patch Treatment Efficacy in Spontaneous Intracranial Hypotension Using Follow-Up
Yu-Wei Wang1, Chieh-Lin Jerry Teng2,3,4,5, Jyh-Wen Chai1,3,6
1Department of Radiology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung 40705, Taiwan.
Objectives:
Epidural blood patching (EBP) is the mainstay therapy for spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH). MRI is used for evaluating spinal CSF leakage. Post-EBP MRI has been. shown to be effective in predicting the efficacy of EBP. However, there are few reports on how post-EBP MRI findings may change with time. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between post-EBP MRI findings at different time points and the corresponding effectiveness of EBP.
Methods:
We retrospectively reviewed 63 SIH patients who had received target EBP. All patients received an MRI follow-up within 10 days (post-EBP MRI) and at 3 months after EBP (3-month MRI). A sub-group analysis was performed at different post-EBP MRI time points (0-2, 3-6, and 7-10 days). The relationships between the post-EBP MRI findings and the EBP effectiveness were evaluated.
Results:
Thirty-five (55.56%) patients were assigned to the EBP-effective group, and 28 (44.44%) were assigned to the EBP non-effective group according to the 3-month MRI. Compared to the EBP non-effective group, the EBP-effective group had significantly lower numbers of spinal CSF leakage in the post-EBP MRI (4.49 vs. 11.71; p = 0.000) and greater numbers of leakage improvement (7.66 vs. 2.96; p = 0.003). For patients who received post-EBP MRI during periods of 0-10, 0-2, 3-6, and 7-10 days, the cutoff values of numbers of spinal CSF leakage for predicting EBP failure were 4, 6, 4, and 5, respectively, with an AUC above 0.77.
Conclusion:
By using post-EBP MRI, which only takes approximately 20 min, predicting EBP efficacy became possible in SIH patients. This study provides cutoff values of numbers of spinal CSF leakage at different follow-up times to serve as clues of if further EBP is needed, which provides the novelty of the current study.
