Headache, thrombolytic therapy, and chronic subdural hemorrhage--a case report

Subdural hematomas are well known but infrequent complications of thrombolytic therapy. Although these are usually associated with head trauma, the authors describe a case of a patient who received a particularly aggressive thrombolytic regimen and presented six months later with complaints of nothing more than a headache resistant to medical therapy, without associated neurologic manifestations, which was finally diagnosed as a chronic subdural hematoma by computerized tomography. In the era of thrombolysis, physicians should maintain a heightened index of suspicion for subdural hematoma in patients complaining of headache.