Results of Stereotactic Aspiration in 175 Cases of Putaminal Hemorrhage

Believing that improved therapeutic results in cases of intracerebral hematoma might be obtained by minimal invasion of the brain, we used computed tomographic-guided stereotactic aspiration in 175 of 241 patients with putaminal hemorrhage. These patients, who were treated 6 or more hours after onset, had hematomas larger than 8 ml and were unable to raise an arm and/or leg on the affected side. Craniotomy was performed in 15 other patients, most of whom were brought to the hospital with large hematomas within 6 hours of onset. The remaining patients either had mild deficits of consciousness (33 patients) or severe deficits and/or were elderly (18 patients) and were treated conservatively. Thirteen patients (7.4%) showed rebleeding after stereotactic aspiration (6 instances of major and 7 instances of minor rebleeding). Craniotomy and removal of the hematoma were required in three of these patients. Aspiration should be avoided in patients who have a tendency for bleeding, even if mild, because rebleeding occurred in 6 of 23 such patients (26%) in these study. The consciousness level improved in 66 patients (38%), was unchanged in 103 patients (59%), and was worse in 6 patients (3%) 1 week postoperatively. Motor function of the arm improved in 55 patients (31%) and was worse in 23 patients (14%). Six months after surgery, the results for the 175 patients who underwent stereotactic aspiration were: 19% excellent, 32% good, 35% fair, 7% poor, 6% dead, and 1% unknown. For the entire series of 241 patients, the results were: 24% excellent, 26% good, 31% fair, 7% poor, 11% dead, and 1% unknown. These results seem to indicate that stereotactic aspiration can play a definite role in the treatment of spontaneous intracerebral hematoma.