The Surgery of the Skull and BrainRawling, Louis Bathe
Science
The Surgery of the Skull and Brain
Rawling, Louis Bathe
Brain -- Surgery; Skull -- Surgery
A rubber drainage-tube may be inserted in the manner depicted in the
same figure. Except at the point of emergence of the tube, the dura
mater is sewn up (with fine interrupted catgut sutures).
(_B_) =Localized subdural hæmorrhage (subdural hæmatocele).= We are
greatly indebted to Bowen[31] for our knowledge of subdural hæmatomata.
That subdural hæmorrhage might take the form of a localized collection
was a recognized fact, but the condition was but little understood, the
typical clinical symptoms were not recognized, and surgeons hesitated to
adopt surgical remedies. All these facts impeded advance in both
diagnosis and treatment. Subdural hæmatoceles, even at this date, are
often regarded as rarities, but, in the light of present knowledge, it
would appear that wider recognition of the hæmorrhage in its clinical
aspect will show that such ideas are erroneous.
In the preceding section it was shown that subdural extravasation
resulting from sinus-injury tends to become diffused throughout the
subdural space. With respect to localized hæmorrhages our data are by no
means complete, but all available evidence tends to show that subdural
hæmatoceles are dependent on laceration of the pia-arachnoid vessels--a
condition practically synonymous with superficial laceration and
contusion of the cortex. The blood, derived from small cerebral veins
and minute cerebral arteries, exercises primarily but slight pressure
effect. Its force is expended on compressing and emptying the subjacent
and surrounding cerebral vessels, producing, in other words, a condition
of _local cerebral anæmia_. This pressure is insufficient to lead to the
development of general compression, but suffices to produce certain
rather indefinite symptoms. We have, therefore, before us a very
different picture to that depicted in cases of middle meningeal
hæmorrhage. In such extra-dural hæmorrhages some definite period of time
must elapse before the dura mater is sufficiently stripped from the bone
to allow of the formation of a clot of size sufficing to exercise both
local and general compression effects. Pressure effects then become very
manifest.
On the other hand, in localized subdural extravasations there is an
immediate effect, for the brain is contused or lacerated. On recovering
from the immediate effects of the injury--concussion of a greater or
lesser degree of intensity--the patient does not regain complete mental
and bodily convalescence. He suffers from symptoms suggestive of brain
irritation--headaches, photophobia, mental irritability, insomnia, loss
of appetite, the pulse accelerated, and the temperature slightly raised.
Later on, more definite symptoms arise, but, intervening between the day
of the accident and the time at which these more definite localizing
symptoms develop, there is an unmistakable _latent_ period--a period to
be sharply differentiated from the previously mentioned _lucid_ interval
(see p. 139).
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