Abstract
Thirty-seven patients with chronic subdural hematomas and thirteen patients with subdural effusions aged older than 65 were analyzed.
On admission, while 75% of the patients presented mental signs and consciousness disturbance, 71% of patients revealed motor weakness, only 42% had signs of increased intracranial pressure.
Forty one cases of chronic subdural hematomas and subdural effusions were operated by burr-hole evacuation. In the twenty cases, the Ommaya reservoir was used after burrhole irrigation. The reservoir was placed in the subcutaneous space, the tip of the tube was placed in the subdural space. The reservoir was punctured with a needle, thereby allowing aspiration of fluid from the subdural space at bedside. Reaccumulation of subdural fluid collection on the follow-up CT scans was detected in twenty cases, but percutaneous needling of the reservoir curedthe disease in eighteen patients. Among our fortyone operated cases, 90% of the cases were fully recovered. The authors proposed this technique and discussed about it.
