title: [Chronic subdural hematoma: a disease of elderly people].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The lack of specificity and heterogeneity of the clinical picture of chronic subdural hematoma, hampers its diagnosis.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To report the experience of a Neurosurgical Service in chronic subdural hematoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred patients (77 male, mean age 77 +/- 13 years) with chronic subdural hematoma were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The main clinical presentations were mental status changes (50%) and progressive focal neurological deficit (46%). Five cases presented as a transient neurological deficit. All patients were treated with burr hole drainage. Thirteen had recurrence of the hematoma and they were reoperated. The surgical mortality was 3%. Eighty seven patients were followed for a mean of 66 months. Eighty one of these had a complete recovery, 6 had permanent neurological deficit and 2 of these were unable to care for themselves. Bad prognosis was associated with the absence of a previous trauma to explain the hematoma and symptoms of dementia as the clinical presentation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most patients with chronic subdural hematoma treated with burr hole drainage have a good outcome.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Neurocirugía y Departamento de Neurología, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. ptagle@med.puc.cl
authors.forename: Patricio
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tagle
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mery
authors.forename: Gonzalo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Torrealba
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Del Villar
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Carmona
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Méndez
authors.forename: Ada
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chicharro
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002677:Chile / Q000453:epidemiology; D004322:Drainage; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D020200:Hematoma, Subdural, Chronic / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000401:mortality; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome
vernacular_title: Hematoma subdural crónico: una enfermedad del adulto mayor.