Abstract:Objective To investigate the correlation between the time window of 320-row CT angiography (CTA) and early hematoma expansion in patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (SICH).Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 210 patients with SICH who were admitted to the Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University from January 2022 to December 2024. All patients underwent a follow-up non-contrast CT scan 6-18 hours after the initial non-contrast CT scan. Based on the presence or absence of hematoma expansion, patients were divided into an expansion group (n = 74) and a non-expansion group (n = 136). Clinical data were compared between the expansion group and the non-expansion group. The influencing factors were analyzed using a logistic regression model, and a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted. Patients undergoing CTA examination were further divided into a < 6 h group, a 6-12 h group, and a > 12 h group according to the time interval from onset to CTA examination. The incidence of early hematoma expansion was compared among the three groups, and correlation analysis was performed using Spearman’s method.Results Compared with the non-expansion group, patients in the expansion group had longer onset-to-admission time, longer onset-to-initial non-contrast CT time, larger initial hematoma volume, higher National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores at admission, and higher proportions of swirl sign, black hole sign, lobulation sign, mixed-density sign, irregular hematoma shape, and receipt of 320-row CTA examination (all P < 0.05). In contrast, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores at admission were significantly lower in the expansion group than in the non-expansion group (P < 0.05). Multivariable logistic regression analysis demonstrated that larger initial hematoma volume [O^R = 1.293 (95% CI: 1.034, 1.617], presence of the black hole sign [OR = 2.766 (95% CI: 1.043, 7.336], and receipt of 320-row CTA examination [O^R = 3.319 (95% CI: 1.633, 6.745] were independent risk factors for early hematoma expansion in patients with SICH (all P < 0.05). The 320-row CTA examination showed the best diagnostic performance for predicting early hematoma expansion in SICH patients, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.796, a sensitivity of 78.38% (95% CI: 0.673, 0.871), and a specificity of 80.88% (95% CI: 0.733, 0.871). The incidence of early hematoma expansion in the 6-12 h group was significantly lower than that in the < 6 h group (P < 0.05), while the incidence in the > 12 h group was significantly lower than that in the 6-12 h group (P < 0.05). Spearman correlation analysis further demonstrated that the timing of 320-row CTA examination was negatively correlated with the incidence of early hematoma expansion (P < 0.05).Conclusion Receiving 320-row CTA examination may increase the risk of early hematoma expansion in patients with SICH. The examination window of 320-row CTA is related to the occurrence of early hematoma expansion in SICH patients.