Application of neuroendoscopy in the treatment of intraventricular hemorrhage.

BACKGROUND

Spontaneous intraventricular hemorrhage is an infrequent but severe complication of hemorrhagic stroke. The conventional treatment of intraventricular hemorrhage consists of ventricular drainage or surgical evacuation, but neither of them is encouraged. The objective of this article is to compare different surgical procedures in order to evaluate a method of minimally invasive treatment for intraventricular hemorrhage.

METHODS

Neuroendoscopy was applied to treat 22 cases of intraventricular hemorrhage. Twenty cases of the same disease that were treated by external ventricular drainage were taken as a control and comparison.

RESULTS

All patients were followed up for 2 months. In the neuroendoscopy group, according to the Glasgow outcome scale, the result was excellent in 5 cases, good in 9, fair in 4, poor in 2 and death in 2. In the external ventricular drainage group, the result was excellent in 1 case, good in 5, fair in 7, poor in 5 and death in 2. More patients in the neuroendoscopy group showed good recovery after 2 months of surgery (p < 0.05). The difference in mortality rate between the 2 groups was not statistically significant (p > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Neuroendoscopic neurosurgery for intraventricular hemorrhage offers better surgical treatment because it is characterized by visualized manipulation, effective hemorrhage evacuation and excellent postoperative outcomes.