A prospective study was performed on 117 patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhagic (ICH) stroke. These patients underwent non-enhanced computed tomography (NECT) and computed tomography angiogram (CTA), which were acquired in both arterial (35 seconds) and delayed (300 seconds) phases.

The initial study obtained the hematoma volume, location (lobar or in basal ganglia), and attenuation values. We consider active bleeding the presence of a "spot sign" and/or "leakage sign". Spot sign was defined as a focal accumulation of contrast within the hematoma in the arterial phase). Leakage sign was established as increased contrast extravasation from the early phase or its onset in the delayed phase.

Later, hematoma volume was recalculated in follow-up NECT. We defined hematoma expansion as a >15% increase in hematoma size.

Other variables were also evaluated, particularly neurological deterioration (increase in National Institute of Health (NIH) stroke score) and in-hospital mortality.