Case report: treatment of subdural hematoma in the emergency department utilizing the Subdural Evacuating Port System
Asfora, W.T.; Klapper, H.B.
South Dakota Medicine the Journal of the South Dakota State Medical Association 65(9): 354-355
2012
ISSN/ISBN: 0038-3317 PMID: 23066609 Document Number: 656844
Patients with acute or chronic subdural hematomas may present with rapidly deteriorating neurological function and are at risk for irreversible brain stem injury. In such cases, rapid surgical intervention is required to evacuate the hematoma and reverse critically elevated intracranial pressure. A variety of surgical drainage methods are in existence, none of which are clearly superior to the others. This report presents the case of a 74-year-old woman who suffered an acute-on-chronic subdural hematoma which was evacuated in the emergency department utilizing the Subdural Evacuating Port System (SEPS). The SEPS provides for a minimally invasive technique to drain subdural hematomas and is advantageous in that it can be performed at the bedside. The SEPS is relatively simple to use and may be especially useful to emergency department staff in outlying areas where there is a shortage of neurosurgical coverage.