Effects Of Stereotactic Aspiration For Primary Intracerebral Hemorrhage: A Systematic Review And Meta-analysis

Objective: To assess the effects of the stereotactic aspiration on mortality and neural function deficiency of patients with primary intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Methods: Randomized and quasi-randomised controlled trials (RCTs) on treatment of ICH published in English and Chinese were selected by a systematic literature search and evaluated using strategies recommended by the Cochrane Stroke Group.Results: Twenty-four trials were included, but only 3 met the methodological quality assessment criteria for inclusion in the meta-analysis. Mortality in surgical and control groups was analyzed. Logistic regression analysis suggested potential efficacy for stereotactic aspiration (odds ratio, 0.63; 95% confidence interval, 0.39 to 1.01; P>0.05).Visual examination of funnel plots shows that there are no significant publication bias.Conclusion: Our review of stereotactic aspiration versus conservative treatment failed to show a statistically significant reduction in the odds of death in surgically treated ICH patients. However, different trials used different evaluation indices for long-term outcomes. Therefore, more RCTs of high methodological quality, larger sample size and long-term follow-up are needed to determine the efficacy of stereotactic aspiration in patients with ICH.