Manual stereotactic aspiration of spontaneous deep-seated intracerebral haematomas in non-comatose patients

Manual stereotactic aspiration was used in 46 consecutive non-comatose pati ents with haematomas within the basal ganglia and the results were compared with those obtained in a similar group of 39 patients who were treated pur ely medically in another hospital. The operation was performed in the subac ute stage, and in most cases three target-points were chosen on the scan wi th the largest expansion of the haematoma. The haematoma was manually aspir ated with a syringe device in different depths in regard to the target-poin ts, and mean proportion aspirated was 90.2%. The level of consciousness imp roved markedly and GCS scores after stereotactic surgery were significantly higher than those after medical treatment (p<0.0001). Peri-ictal mortality was significantly reduced in the surgical group and with improved levels o f consciousness, the patients were suitable for further rehabilitative trea tment earlier. This resulted in a significantly reduced in-patient stay. Ma nual stereotactic aspiration of deep-seated intracerebral haematomas in the subacute stage proved to be a simple and safe method with high efficacy.