Abstract
We experienced 17 cases, 21 sides of chronic subdural hematoma during the recent 3 years. About those cases, all of them were male, 50 decade was mode in age, mean duration was over 1 month between previous head injury to the initiation of syptoms and 2 months between the head injury to the operative treatment following diagnosis. The operative technique was barr-hole and drainage of the hematoma with satisfactory result on the all cases.
The hematoma content fluid was examind for specific gravity, ash content, water content, osmotic pressure, P, electrophoresis and spectrophotometric curve to ask which value may relate to the process of the hematoma. Among those estimated value, the specific gravity was easy to measure and showed enough satisfactory parallel proportion to the progress of subdural hematoma. The result was as follow: the specific gravity of the content is around 1050, that is about the same as the specific gravity of the total blood in early stage of the hematoma such as earlier than 1 month, and the specific gravity decreases gradually and reachs to around 1025, that is about the same as the specific gravity of the serum in the late stage such as 3 months.
The physical power of expansion of the hematoma is not crystal osmotic pressure but colloid swelling pressure according to the above mentioned estimated value. And besides the physical power, exudation of serum-like component and bleeding from the capsel wall of the hematoma are possibly relate to the expansion.
