Objective To provide theoretical basis for the prediction and treatment of hemorrhage transformation (HT), we detected the changes of inflammatory cytokines in serum of patients with acute cerebral infarction and explored the role of inflammatory cytokines in cerebral infarction HT process.

Methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of patients with acute cerebral infarction admitted to the Department of Neurology in our hospital from January 2015 to January 2020. The patients were divided into HT group and non-HT group according to the occurrence of HT. The demographical and imaging data, and the inflammatory factors in serum of patients in both groups were analyzed. The logistic regression was used to analyze the risk factors for HT.

Results Finally, 31 patients were included in the HT group and 71 patients in the non-HT group. The NIHSS score in the HT group was significantly higher than that in the non-HT group. The IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-αserum levels in the HT group were significantly higher than those in the non-HT group, while the CTRP3 level was significantly lower than that in the non-HT group. The IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α levels were positively correlated with NIHSS score, while CTRP3 level was negatively correlated with NIHSS score. The logistic regression showed that IL-6, TNF-α, and infarct size were all risk factors for HT, while CTRP3 was a protective factor. Furthermore, the AUC, specificity, and sensitivity of IL-6/CTRP3 were 0.91, 0.89, and 0.96, respectively, indicating that the reliability of IL-6/CTRP3 in predicting HT was significantly higher than other variables.

Conclusions Inflammatory factors play an important role in the development of HT, and the reliability of IL-6/CTRP3 in the prediction of HT was significantly higher than other variables.