A retrospective study of 90 cases of small-sized (less than 3 mm on the printed CT film) acute (within 24 hours) subdural hematoma (SASDH) is presented. From March 1985 to December 1986, the SASDH were immediately operated on (operation rate: 86.0%). From January 1988 to December 1989, we attempted to treat them conservatively (operation rate: 49.1%). The patient population for this study consisted of 38 surgically-treated patients in the first period (Group I), 26 surgically-treated patients in the second period (Group IIs), and 26 conservatively-treated patients in the second period (Group IIc). We compared the clinical features, radiologic findings, and outcome of these 3 groups. The clinical features of Group I, including age, sex, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score on admission, pupillary status on arrival, and interval from injury to the CT, did not differ significantly from those of Group II (P greater than 0.01). The only difference was the timing of the operation. In Group I, 20 patients (52.6%) received an operation within 4 hours, while in Group IIs, only 7 patients (26.9%) underwent surgery within 4 hours (P less than 0.05). The radiologic findings of Group I, including the thickness and volume of the hematoma, the degree of midline shift, and the frequency of skull fracture, also did not differ from those of Group II (P greater than 0.1). However, the outcome of Group II strikingly differed from that of Group I. The mortality rate was 76.3% in Group I, while it was 44.2% in Group II (P less than 0.005).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Acute Disease ; Adult ; Female ; Glasgow Coma Scale ; Hematoma, Subdural/mortality/pathology/radiography/*therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Time Factors ; Treatment Outcome

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Fatigue* ; Sciatica*

Recurrent alternating stroke, i.e., one time ischemic and the other hemorrhagic or vice versa, is an uncommon event. We report a series of eight patients who had recurrent alternating strokes, which were diagnosed by CT scans during the last four years. Infarcts preceded hemorrhage in six patients. In the remaining two patients, hemorrhage developed first and infarct followed. All ischemic strokes were the lacunar infarcts. The lesions of the two attacks were located in different sites in all cases except one. The mean age of the patients was 56.6 years at the time of the first attack and 57.5 years at the time of the second. The mean interval between attacks was 11.8 months. All patients were hypertensive on admission. After the first attack, the outcome was favorable in all patients. However, after the second attack the outcome deteriorated to moderate disability in three, severe disability in one and death in four. We discuss some possible reasons for the rarity of recurrent alternating stroke.
Brain Ischemia/*complications ; Cerebral Hemorrhage/*complications ; Cerebrovascular Disorders/*radionuclide imaging ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension/complications/radionuclide imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

We report a case of cerebral lymphomatoid granulomatosis in a 50-year-old man. Lymphomatoid granulomatosis is an unusual condition which usually presents as a pulmonary manifestation, which occasionally affects the brain, and causes focal inflammatory lesions. Primary cerebral lymphomatoid granulomatosis is very rare. We describe a case of lymphomatoid granulomatosis in the left frontal lobe without pulmonary involvement.
Brain ; Frontal Lobe* ; Humans ; Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis* ; Middle Aged

Ninety-three patients who had evidence of intraventricular hemorrhage(IVH) were reviewed. Primary and secondary IVH could be well distinguished by computerized tomographic(CT) brain scan. 11 patients had primary pure IVH and remaining 82 patients were secondary IVH from mainly hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage. Four patients died and 7 survived in the pure IVH. Three of the 4 who died were aneurysmal rupture. Remaining one was unknown etiology. In CT scan hemorrhage was most frequently found in the occipital horns according to the supine position of the patient during the examination and least found in the temporal horns probably due to narrow crescentic shape. In the secondary IVH the distribution of the blood within the lateral ventricle was mainly ipslateral to the intracerebral hematoma. The point of penetration of the intracerebral hematoma into the lateral ventricle was the posterior body in the basal ganglia or thalamic hemorrhage, the frontal horn in the aneurysmal rupture and the trigone in the arteriovenous malformation. Although the level of consciousness on admission related to the size and location of primary intracerebral hemorrhage or IVH, the ventricular dilatation itself also seemed to contribute to the consciousness state. The degree of temporal horn dilatation correlated more with the clinical grade than the frontal horn dilatation.
Aneurysm ; Animals ; Arteriovenous Malformations ; Basal Ganglia ; Brain ; Cerebral Hemorrhage ; Consciousness ; Dilatation ; Hematoma ; Hemorrhage* ; Horns ; Humans ; Intracranial Hemorrhage, Hypertensive ; Lateral Ventricles ; Rupture ; Supine Position ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

We present a study on the systemic insults in the early death(within one week) after head injury. The patient population consisted of 192 patients who were admitted to the Soonchunhyang University Chonan Hospital from August 1986 to May 1990 after head injury. We collected clinical features and systemic insults including blood pressure, arterial pH, PaO2, PaCO2, hematocrit, and serum concentration of Na, retrospectively. The most common cause of injury was road traffic accident(77.6%). More than half(57.8%) were under the age of 40 years. The interval from injury to admission was within one hour in 63.2%, and within four hours in 91.4%. The mean interval was 1.8 hours. However, in 154(80.2%) patients, we found the evidence of systemic insults on admission. We found hypotension(ststolic less than 90mmHg) in 22.9%, acidemia(pH<7.35) in 71.3%, arterial hypoxemia(PaO2<60mmHg) in 42.7%, hypercarbia(PaCO2>45mmHg) in 28.7%, anemia(hematocrit<30%) in 13.0%, hyponatremia(Na<135mEq/L) in 10.7%, and hypernatremia(Na>145mEq/L) in 11.2%. These results imply that the prehospital emergency care system useful at the scene of accident and during the transportation is more important than the simple quick-transport-system.
Arterial Pressure ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Craniocerebral Trauma* ; Emergency Medical Services ; Head* ; Hematocrit ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Retrospective Studies ; Transportation

A case of puerperal cerebral hemorrhagic infarction with venous thrombosis in a 36-year-old female is reported. Brain CT scan showed an isodensity area surrounded by ill-defind low density medially in the right frontal lobe, and the most anterior portion of superior sagittal sinus and its draining veins were prominent, but draining veins in the frontal high convexity were not filled in the venous phase of the right carotid angiogram. Osteoplastic craniotomy on the right frontal area was performed to remove the lesion which was mistakenly understood as a mass. Abnormal brain parenchyma was excised from the right frontal subcortical region. Microscopic and pathological evaluation confirmed the diagnosis of hemorrhagic infarction due to venous thrombosis.
Adult ; Brain ; Craniotomy ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Frontal Lobe ; Humans ; Infarction* ; Superior Sagittal Sinus ; Thrombosis* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Veins ; Venous Thrombosis

No abstract available.
Dyskeratosis Congenita*

We present a case of lumbosacral fracture-dislocation, which was spontaneously reduced during radiological examination. Such rapid reduction is, however, not reliable for long-term stability. We would like to report this case briefly because spontaneous reduction of lumbosacral fracture-dislocation has not been reported previously.
Adult ; Dislocations/*physiopathology/surgery ; Humans ; Lumbar Vertebrae/*injuries ; Male ; Sacrum/*injuries ; Spinal Fractures/*physiopathology/surgery