Spontaneous Disappearance of a Large Chronic Subdural Hematoma: A Pleasant Surprise
Overview
Affiliations
We report an extremely rare case of spontaneous complete disappearance of a large chronic subdural hematoma in a 78-year aged man with a significant mass effect and a large midline shift which was diagnosed around 6 weeks before admission. Repeat NCCT of the head in our department to everyone's surprise revealed almost complete spontaneous resolution. Spontaneous resolution of a large chronic subdural hematoma is extremely rare, and the scarce literature whatsoever is available is especially in cases of immune thrombocytopenic purpura where steroids may play a role in the stabilization of neomembranes. Our interest is in this case because of the benign clinical course despite a large size causing severe mass effect and large midline shift. Chronic subdural hematoma is a common entity in the elderly generally seen weeks following minor trauma. Surgical evacuation of a chronic subdural hematoma remains the gold standard treatment, but controversy exists regarding the best surgical option. Spontaneous resolution of a chronic subdural hematoma has also been reported rarely, but mainly in patients with immune thrombocytopenic purpura.
Zhang X, Sha Z, Gao C, Yuan J, He L, Huang J Acta Neurol Belg. 2023; 123(6):2277-2286.
PMID: 37269419 DOI: 10.1007/s13760-023-02293-z.
Spontaneous resolution of chronic subdural hematoma: Does only the size matter?.
Pacheco Junior M, Lima Pessoa B, Landeiro J, de Abreu Macedo P, Araujo Leite M Surg Neurol Int. 2019; 10:194.
PMID: 31637095 PMC: 6800287. DOI: 10.25259/SNI_58_2019.
Conservative Management of Chronic Subdural Hematoma with Tranexamic Acid.
Moscote-Salazar L, Satyarthee G, Matus J, Maraby J, Calderon Miranda W Asian J Neurosurg. 2018; 13(3):951-952.
PMID: 30283592 PMC: 6159026. DOI: 10.4103/ajns.AJNS_298_16.