Tag: Size ratio

Neurosurgery 72:547–554, 2013 

The variable definition of size ratio (SR) for sidewall (SW) vs bifurcation (BIF) aneurysms raises confusion for lesions harboring small branches, such as carotid ophthalmic or posterior communicating locations. These aneurysms are considered SW by many clinicians, but SR methodology classifies them as BIF.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of ignoring small vessels and SW vs stringent BIF labeling on SR ruptured aneurysm detection performance in borderline aneurysms with small branches, and to reconcile SR-based labeling with clinical SW/BIF classification.

METHODS: Catheter rotational angiographic datasets of 134 consecutive aneurysms (60 ruptured) were automatically measured in 3-dimensional. Stringent BIF labeling was applied to clinically labeled aneurysms, with 21 aneurysms switching label from SW to BIF. Parent vessel size was evaluated both taking into account, and ignoring, small vessels. SR was defined accordingly as the ratio between aneurysm and parent vessel sizes. Univariate and multivariate statistics identified significant features. The square of the correlation coefficient (R2) was reported for bivariate analysis of alternative SR calculations.

RESULTS: Regardless of SW/BIF labeling method, SR was equally significant in discriminating aneurysm ruptured status (P , .001). Bivariate analysis of alternative SR had a high correlation of R2 = 0.94 on the whole dataset, and R2 = 0.98 on the 21 borderline aneurysms.

CONCLUSION: Ignoring small branches from SR calculation maintains rupture status detection performance, while reducing postprocessing complexity and removing labeling ambiguity. Aneurysms adjacent to these vessels can be considered SW for morphometric analysis. It is reasonable to use the clinical SW/BIF labeling when using SR for rupture risk evaluation.

Neurosurgery 70:944–952, 2012 DOI: 10.1227/NEU.0b013e31823bcda7

Aneurysm size ratio (SR), variably defined as the ratio of dome height (H) or maximal dimension (Dmax) over average parent vessel diameter (PV) diameter, has been proposed as a promising aneurysm rupture status predictor.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the incremental contribution of SR to retrospective rupture status determination in a large high-resolution aneurysm database.

METHODS: Measurements were performed on catheter 3D-rotational angiographic volumetric datasets for 267 aneurysms (98 ruptured). SR was computed both as H/PV (SR1) and as Dmax/PV (SR2), and its discriminant performance was evaluated on the whole dataset, on aneurysm-type subsets (bifurcation [BIF] vs sidewall [SW]), and at specific aneurysm locations. Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses were performed by the use of area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver-operating characteristics.

RESULTS: Neither SR1 nor SR2 were statistically correlated to rupture status in the BIF group, where only PV (AUC = 0.61) achieved significance. All parameters were statistically significant in the combined group, but with modest performance (AUC range, 0.62- 0.74). SR1 (AUC = 0.84) and SR2 (AUC = 0.78) were strong predictors in the SW group, similar to H (AUC = 0.83) and Dmax (AUC = 0.77). Multivariate statistics failed to support SR as an incremental independent parameter from PV, Dmax, and H.

CONCLUSION: SR provides an uneven performance that depends strongly on the BIF/ SW distribution of the data and is not useful for bifurcation lesions. In the SW subset, the incremental contribution of the SR over its H or Dmax individual component measurements could not be validated, suggesting prior findings of its utility to be the result of aneurysm-type selection bias.