Experience with a burr-hole craniostomy for chronic subdural hematoma
Kaiser R., Douda L., Waldauf P., Houšt́ava L., Haninec P.
Chronic subdural haematoma is a very common disease of advanced age. Although often considered a trivial affection, its treatment in frequent recurrence may be difficult and its course may be fatal even if mini-invasive methods are used. The most-often used technique is evacuation via a burr-hole craniostomy, increasingly also via a simple twist-drill craniostomy. We present our experience of a group of 180 patients and a total of 201 symptomatic haematomas treated primarily by evacuation and irrigation via a small, burr-hole craniostomy. Drainage was employed in most of the cases. Risk of recurrence of haematoma led to 14.9% of the cases being re-operated. Mortality was low: 0.5% of the patients died soon after the operation. The risk of the recurrence was higher in cases of septated hematoma.