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CHRONIC SUBDURAL HEMATOMA IN THE ELDERLY: A CURABLE LESION
Author(s) -
RASKIND ROBERT,
METCALF J. S.,
WEISS S. R.,
DORIA ALBERTO
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1968.tb02825.x
Subject(s) - medicine , chronic subdural hematoma , hematoma , lesion , headaches , surgery , personality changes , paraplegia , physical examination , neurological examination , hemiparesis , spinal cord , psychiatry , disease , pathology
Thirty‐nine elderly patients were treated surgically for chronic subdural hematoma. Of the 34 who survived the postoperative period, 30 were restored to their pre‐illness states of activity and function; the remaining 4 had paraplegia or hemiparesis. Chronic subdural hematoma in patients past 60 years of age presents many difficulties in diagnosis. However, clues often may be elicited by careful inquiry into the history, thorough physical examination, echo‐encephalography, plain roentgenograms of the skull, and analysis of the cerebrospinal fluid. Subdural hematoma must be seriously considered in any person older than 60 with a history of recent personality changes, rapidly progressing senility, headaches, or neurological deficits, whether or not there has been any known trauma to the head. It is important to recognize that the lesion is often curable. The better results in our series were obtained in those cases in which diagnosis and surgical intervention were carried out early in the course of the illness.