[Subdural hematoma due to metastatic dural carcinomatosis associated with DIC--a case report]

This 74-year-old female suddenly complained of severe headache, nausea, vomiting and dizziness on June 19, 1981. She was brought to nearby hospital. During the following six days, the state of consciousness gradually worsened and left-sided hemiparesis and convulsion attack arose and she was admitted to our clinic on June 25, 1981. Cerebral angiograms revealed an aneurysm of the right middle cerebral artery. Diagnosis of subarachnoid hemorrhage due to the rupture of an aneurysm was tentatively made and conservative therapy was done. On the second hospital day, she had nasal bleeding and began to excrete tar-like stool. Laboratory examination revealed thrombocytopenia, increase of FDP and prolongation of prothrombin time. Her liver and renal functions gradually worsened after this episode. On the 13th hospital day, she expired. General autopsy showed wide spread adenocarcinoma with metastases to the lung, lymph nodes and bones. Examination of the head revealed an unruptured aneurysm and bilateral diffuse subdural clotted hemorrhage. The dura was tightly adherent to the skull and partially thickened. No abnormal findings were found in the brain. On microscopical examination of the dura, there were fresh hemorrhage and many of the innumerable dilated small vessels contained tumor in the inner dural layer. Even by extensive examination, the origin of the malignancy could not be identified. We concluded that the initial symptoms just like of subarachnoid hemorrhage were due to the dural metastasis and subdural hematoma. Sixteen cases of subdural hematoma secondary to metastatic neoplasm were reported previously. We made some discussion about the pathogenesis and symptomatology of this type of subdural hematoma.