[The diagnosis and surgical treatment of traumatic hematomas of the posterior cranial fossa]

Abstract

The symptomatology and results of treatment of 26 patients with traumatic hematomas of the posterior cranial fossa (PCF) are analysed. The hematomas were verified on operation in 19 patients and on postmortem examination in the other patients. It is concluded that the diagnosis of PCF hematomas is based on a combination of signs: cervico-occipital mechanism of the trauma, fracture of the occipital bone, cerebello-stem symptomatology, and acute hydrocephalus. The formation of trephination openings on the line of the fracture of the occipital bone is considered expedient in the presence of the above listed signs of affection of the PCF structures and the absence of computer tomography. Tests for induced stem potentials must also be included in the diagnostic complex. Total lethality was 53.8%, surgical lethality--25%.