SCSDH should be included in the differential diagnosis of progressive spinal cord and nerve root compression in patients receiving anticoagulant therapy. Prompt diagnosis and early surgical decompression lead to a good outcome.
A 50-year-old woman presented with a rare case of contrecoup epidural hematoma (EDH) associated with coup EDH. She was hit by a car while riding a bicycle, and struck the left parietal region of her head on the ground. She was dazed for a few minutes. On admission, she complained of nausea but exhibited no neurological deficits. Skull radiography revealed a linear fracture of the left temporal bone. Computed tomography (CT) demonstrated acute EDH in the right frontal region due to contrecoup injury, and thin EDH in the left temporal region due to coup injury. She vomited repeatedly after admission. She became lethargic and exhibited right hemiparesis. CT, taken 2 hours later, revealed enlargement of the left coup EDH, but no enlargement of the right contrecoup EDH. An emergent evacuation of the enlarged coup EDH was performed. Immediately after the operation, she became alert and the right hemiparesis subsided. The contrecoup EDH was conservatively treated, in the absence of enlargement. She was discharged 12 days after the injury without neurological deficits.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.