Surgical Drains in Chronic Subdural Hematoma Surgery: From the Cheapest to the Most Expensive Drains

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Among the various neurosurgical techniques currrently being used in chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH) surgery, bur hole craniostomy is the most popular worldwide. Recent studies have strongly recommended that a drain be placed after surgical evacuation of a hematoma, and a broad spectrum of preformed surgical drains is widely available for this purpose. If preformed drains are unavailable, a surgeon-made drain can be used and various methods are available to develop a drain in the operating room.

METHODS: Using a case report, we demonstrate how to develop a surgeon-made drain. Next, we retrospectively screened for subdural drain usage in consecutive patients undergoing bur hole drainage for CSDH at Adiyaman University Hospital between January 2017 and April 2017, and data from only those patients in whom a surgeon-made drain was used were included for analyses.

RESULTS: A 74-year-old male was operated with the diagnosis of CSDH. Assembly of a surgeon-made drain was explained step by step. Our review identified 6 unilateral and 2 bilateral cases in which 10 surgeon-made drains were used. Mean age of the patients was 72, and mean follow-up period was 7 months, 23 days. No instances of infection or drain-related complications had been recorded. The recurrence rate was 0%, and the average drainage period was 3.4 days.

CONCLUSIONS: In case of unavailability of a preformed drain a surgeon-made drain can be used during CSDH surgery. Different methods are available and can be further diversified using various combinations of simple medical materials.