[On the surgical treatment of cerebellar infarction (author's transl)]

Recently we have experienced two cases of acute uncomplicated cerebellar infarction which had been surgically treated. Onset of the disease in both cases was an attack of vertigo with nausea and vomiting, followed by the signs of an expanding lesion in the posterior fossa. There were thirty-one surgically treated cases and only six were fatal so far as we have reviewed cases reported in the literature. The clinical pictures of cerebellar vascular accident are typical in most cases and those of cerebellar infarction are similar to those of cerebellar hemorrhage. These two are frequently indistinguishable on the clinical as well as angiographic grounds, however, CT-scan may be of great value in the differential diagnosis. It is important to realize the cerebellar infarction is also a surgical lesion and not to spend valuable time in differentiating cerebellar infarction from cerebellar hemorrhage. Low mortality rate and low morbidity in cerebellar infarction adequately treated surgically confirm importance for early exploration.