SciCombinator

The term, hip pointer, is applied in the setting of a blunt trauma injury to the iliac crest. It typically occurs in contact and collision sports and can cause significant pain and loss of practice or game time. A direct blow results in subperiosteal edema with hematoma formation within surrounding muscle or soft tissue and bone contusion of the iliac crest. Conservative management with compression, ice, antiinflammatories, and rehabilitation exercises are successful in treating hip pointers. Injection therapy with the use of local anesthetic can be helpful in minimizing pain and increasing function to allow more rapid return to play.

INTRODUCTION: Symptomatic subdural hematoma development is a constant concern for patients who have undergone cerebrospinal fluid shunting procedures to relieve symptoms related to normal-pressure hydrocephalus. Acute subdural hematomas are of particular concern in these patients as even minor head trauma may result in subdural hematoma formation. The presence of a ventricular shunt facilitates further expansion of the subdural hematoma and often necessitates surgical treatment, including subdural hematoma evacuation and shunt ligation. CASE PRESENTATION: We present the case of a 63-year-old North American Caucasian man with normal-pressure hydrocephalus with an adjustable valve ventriculoperitoneal shunt who developed an acute subdural hematoma after sustaining head trauma. Conservative treatment was favored over operative evacuation because our patient was neurologically intact, but simple observation was considered to be too high risk in the setting of a low-pressure ventriculoperitoneal shunt. Thus, the valve setting on the ventriculoperitoneal shunt was increased to its maximum pressure setting in order to reduce flow through the shunt and to mildly increase intracranial pressure in an attempt to tamponade any active bleeding and limit hematoma expansion. A repeat computed tomography scan of the head six days after the valve adjustment revealed complete resolution of the acute subdural hematoma. At this time, the valve pressure was reduced to its original setting to treat symptoms of normal-pressure hydrocephalus. CONCLUSIONS: Programmable shunt valves afford the option for non-operative management of acute subdural hematoma in patients with ventricular shunts for normal-pressure hydrocephalus. As illustrated in this case report, increasing the shunt valve pressure may result in rapid resolution of the acute subdural hematoma in some patients.

BACKGROUND: Spontaneous intracranial hypotension has become a well-recognized cause of headaches and a wide variety of other manifestations have been reported. Recently, several patients with asymptomatic spontaneous intracranial hypotension were reported. I now report two patients with spontaneous intracranial hypotension who developed multiple arterial strokes associated with death in one patient, illustrating the spectrum of disease severity in spontaneous intracranial hypotension. METHODS: Medical records and radiologic imaging of the two patients were reviewed. RESULTS: Case 1. A 45-year-old man presented with an orthostatic headache. Neurologic examination was normal. MRI showed bilateral subdural fluid collections, brain sagging, and pachymeningeal enhancement. At lumbar puncture, the opening pressure was too low to record. He underwent two epidural blood patches with transient improvement of symptoms. His headaches progressed and a CT-myelogram showed a lower cervical CSF leak. Subsequently, periodic lethargy and confusion was noted and he then rapidly deteriorated. Examination showed coma (GCS: 4 [E1, M2, V1]), a fixed and dilated right pupil, and decerebrate posturing. Bilateral craniotomies were performed for the evacuation of chronic subdural hematomas. Immediate postoperative CT showed bilateral posterior cerebral artery infarcts and a recurrent right subdural hematoma, requiring re-evacuation. Postoperative examination was consistent with brain death and support was withdrawn.  Case 2. A 42-year-old man presented with a non-positional headache. Neurologic examination was normal. CT showed bilateral acute on chronic subdural hematomas and effacement of the basilar cisterns. MRI showed brain sagging, bilateral subdural hematomas, and pachymeningeal enhancement. Bilateral craniotomies were performed and subdural hematomas were evacuated. Postoperatively, the patient became progressively lethargic (GCS: 8 [E2, M4, V2]) and variable degrees of pupillary asymmetry and quadriparesis were noted. MRI now also showed multiple areas of restricted diffusion in the pons and midbrain, consistent with multiple infarcts. CT showed worsening subdural fluid collections with midline shift and increased effacement of the basilar cisterns. Repeat bilateral craniotomies were performed for evacuation of the subdural fluid collections. Neurologic examination was then noted to be fluctuating but clearly improved when lying flat (GCS: 10T [E4, M6, VT]). CT-myelography demonstrated an extensive cervico-thoracic CSF leak. An epidural blood patch was performed. The patient made a good, but incomplete, recovery with residual quadriparesis and dysphagia. CONCLUSIONS: Arterial cerebral infarcts are rare, but potentially life-threatening complications of spontaneous intracranial hypotension. The strokes are due to downward displacement of the brain and can be precipitated by craniotomy for evacuation of associated subdural hematomas.

: Postpartum hematomas are a potentially serious obstetric complication for which management options are not standardized. We report successful treatment of a large postpartum hematoma using arterial embolization as primary approach.

Increasing age and lower pre-operative Glasgow coma score (GCS) are associated with worse outcome after surgery for chronic subdural haematoma (CSDH). Only few studies have quantified outcomes specific to the very elderly or comatose patients. We aim to examine surgical outcomes in these patient groups. We analysed data from a prospective multicentre cohort study, assessing the risk of recurrence, death, and unfavourable functional outcome of very elderly (≥ 90 years) patients and comatose (pre-operative GCS ≤ 8) patients following surgical treatment of CSDH. Seven hundred eighty-five patients were included in the study. Thirty-two (4.1%) patients had pre-operative GCS ≤ 8 and 70 (8.9%) patients were aged ≥ 90 years. A higher proportion of comatose patients had an unfavourable functional outcome (38.7 vs 21.7%; p = 0.03), although similar proportion of comatose (64.5%) and non-comatose patients (61.8%) functionally improved after surgery (p = 0.96). Compared to patients aged < 90 years, a higher proportion of patients aged ≥ 90 years had unfavourable functional outcome (41.2 vs 20.5%; p < 0.01), although approximately half had functional improvement following surgery. Mortality risk was higher in both comatose (6.3 vs 1.9%; p = 0.05) and very elderly (8.8 vs 1.1%; p < 0.01) groups. There was a trend towards a higher recurrence risk in the comatose group (19.4 vs 9.5%; p = 0.07). Surgery can still provide considerable benefit to very elderly and comatose patients despite their higher risk of morbidity and mortality. Further research would be needed to better identify those most likely to benefit from surgery in these groups.

We sought to determine 30-day survival trends and prognostic factors following surgery for acute subdural hematomas (ASDHs) in England and Wales over a 20-year period.

While injuries of the upper extremity are widely discussed in rock climbers, reports about the lower extremity are rare. Nevertheless almost 50 percent of acute injuries involve the leg and feet. Acute injuries are either caused by ground falls or rock hit trauma during a fall. Most frequently strains, contusions and fractures of the calcaneus and talus. More rare injuries, as e.g., osteochondral lesions of the talus demand a highly specialized care and case presentations with combined iliac crest graft and matrix associated autologous chondrocyte transplantation are given in this review. The chronic use of tight climbing shoes leads to overstrain injuries also. As the tight fit of the shoes changes the biomechanics of the foot an increased stress load is applied to the fore-foot. Thus chronic conditions as subungual hematoma, callosity and pain resolve. Also a high incidence of hallux valgus and hallux rigidus is described.

Focal intimal disruption (FID) has been described in >20% of type B intramural hematomas (IMH), with unclear prognosis and management.

[This retracts the article on p. 303 in vol. 10, PMID: 27445673.].

Glutaric aciduria type 1 (GA1) is a rare metabolic disorder of glutaryl-CoA-dehydrogenase enzyme deficiency. Children with GA1 are reported to be predisposed to subdural hematoma (SDH) development due to stretching of cortical veins secondary to cerebral atrophy and expansion of CSF spaces. Therefore, GA1 testing is part of the routine work-up in abusive head trauma (AHT). This systematic review addresses the coexistence of GA1 and SDH and the validity of GA1 in the differential diagnosis of AHT.