Thirty‐nine elderly patients were treated surgically for chronic subdural hematoma. Of the 34 who survived the postoperative period, 30 were restored to their pre‐illness states of activity and function; the remaining 4 had paraplegia or hemiparesis.
Chronic subdural hematoma in patients past 60 years of age presents many difficulties in diagnosis. However, clues often may be elicited by careful inquiry into the history, thorough physical examination, echo‐encephalography, plain roentgenograms of the skull, and analysis of the cerebrospinal fluid. Subdural hematoma must be seriously considered in any person older than 60 with a history of recent personality changes, rapidly progressing senility, headaches, or neurological deficits, whether or not there has been any known trauma to the head.
It is important to recognize that the lesion is often curable. The better results in our series were obtained in those cases in which diagnosis and surgical intervention were carried out early in the course of the illness.