Chronic subdural hematoma in the elderly: not a benign disease

Abstract

Object Chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH) is perceived to be a “benign,” easily treated condition in the elderly, but reported follow-up periods are brief, usually limited to acute hospitalization. Methods The authors conducted a retrospective review of data obtained in a prospectively identified consecutive series of adult patients admitted to their institution between September 2000 and February 2008 and in whom there was a CT diagnosis of CSDH. Survival data were compared to life-table data. Results Of the 209 cases analyzed, 63% were men and the mean age was 80.6 years (range 65–96 years). Primary surgical interventions performed were bur holes in 21 patients, twist-drill closed-system drainage in 44, and craniotomies in 72. An additional 72 patients were simply observed. Reoperations were recorded in 5 patients—4 who had previously undergone twist-drill drainage and 1 who had previously undergone a bur hole procedure (p = 0.41, chi-square analysis). Thirty-five patients (16.7%) died in hospital, 130 were discharged to rehabilitation or a skilled care facility, and 44 returned home. The follow-up period extended to a maximum of 8.3 years (median 1.45 years). Six-month and 1-year mortality rates were 26.3% and 32%, respectively. In the multivariate analysis (step-wise logistic regression), the sole factor that predicted in-hospital death was neurological status on admission (OR 2.1, p = 0.02, for each step). Following discharge, the median survival in the remaining cohort was 4.4 years. In the Cox proportional hazards model, only age (hazard ratio [HR] 1.06/year, p = 0.02) and discharge to home (HR 0.24, p = 0.01) were related to survival, whereas the type of intervention, whether surgery was performed, size of subdural hematoma, amount of shift, bilateral subdural hematomas, and anticoagulant agent use did not affect the long- or short-term mortality rate. Comparison of postdischarge survival and anticipated actuarial survival demonstrated a markedly increased mortality rate in the CSDH group (median survival 4.4 vs 6 years, respectively; HR 1.94, p = 0.0002, log-rank test). This excess mortality rate was also observed at 6 months postdischarge with evidence of normalization only at 1 year. Conclusions In this first report of the long-term outcome of elderly patients with CSDH the authors observed persistent excess mortality up to 1 year beyond diagnosis. This belies the notion that CSDH is a benign disease and indicates it is a marker of other underlying chronic diseases similar to hip fracture.

Outcomes of chronic subdural hematoma drainage in nonagenarians and centenarians: a multicenter study

“…The overall survival of patients in the surgical group was higher than that of patients in the conservative group. Although several studies have shown an increase in mortality rates associated with drainage of chronic SDHs in elderly patients, 9,14,18 the results of our study have shown that surgical drainage is associated with a long-term overall survival benefit even in patients aged over 90 years old.…”

Isolated unilateral IIIrd nerve palsy as the only sign of chronic subdural haematoma

“…6 One large scale study revealed its mean age of occurrence as 80.6 years. 7 However in our case the patient was relatively young. It usually occurs after a trivial injury though a history of direct trauma to the head is absent in up to half the cases.…”

“…It usually occurs after a trivial injury though a history of direct trauma to the head is absent in up to half the cases. 7 There is no damage to the underlying brain and usually there is a period of weeks to months before it becomes clinically evident and then these patients of CSDH usually present with various neurological signs and symptoms However, uniquely, in our patient, the only presenting sign was just an isolated oculomotor nerve palsy. Isolated oculomotor nerve palsy occurring in association with subdural haematoma is in itself, a rare finding.…”

Leptomeningeal metastasis mimicking Chronic Subdural Hematoma

“…The Chronic SDH is benign condition with mortality is less than 2% while the leptomeningeal disease is associated with almost 100% mortality (6,7,8).…”