Continuous irrigation with thrombolytics for intraventricular hemorrhage: case–control study

Intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) is a complication of a spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage. Standard treatment is with external ventricular drain (EVD). Intraventricular thrombolysis may improve mortality but does not improve functional outcomes. We present our initial experience with a novel irrigating EVD (IRRAflow) that automates continuous irrigation with thrombolysis.

Single-center case–control study including patients with IVH treated with EVD compared to IRRAflow. We compared standard demographics, treatment, and outcome parameters between groups. We developed a brain phantom injected with a human clot and assessed clot clearance using EVD/IRRAflow approaches with CT imaging.

Twenty-one patients were treated with standard EVD and 9 patients with IRRAflow. Demographics were similar between groups. Thirty-three percent of patients with EVD also had at least one dose of t-PA and 89% of patients with IRRAflow received irrigation with t-PA (p = 0.01). Mean drain days were 8.8 for EVD versus 4.1 for IRRAflow (p = 0.02). Days-to-clearance of ventricular outflow was 5.8 for EVD versus 2.5 for IRRAflow (p = 0.02). Overall clearance was not different. Thirty-seven percent of EVD patients achieved good outcome (mRS \(\ge\) 3) at 90 days versus 86% of IRRAflow patients (p = 0.03). Assessing only t-PA, reduction in mean days-to-clearance (p = 0.0004) and ICU days (p = 0.04) was observed. In the benchtop model, the clot treated with IRRAflow and t-PA showed a significant reduction of volume compared to control.

Irrigation with IRRAflow and t-PA is feasible and safe for patients with IVH. Improving clot clearance with IRRAflow may result in improved clinical outcomes and should be incorporated into randomized trials.