Survival and death from subdural haematoma on medical wards

All patients with subdural haematoma presenting to medical wards in Nottingham over a 5-year period have been reviewed. Of twenty-one such patients eight were first diagnosed at post-mortem, whilst all of the remaining thirteen patients in whom the diagnosis was made in life survived following neurosurgical evacuation of the haematoma. Diagnostic failure was caused mainly by failure to consider the possibility of subdural haematoma or misinterpretation of negative investigations. An attempt has been made to characterize the clinical patterns that may suggest the presence of a subdural haematoma, and recommendations are made on the investigation of such patients.