Lin MJ. Intractable subdural effusion after decompressive craniectomy for traumatic brain injury: A case report. World J Clin Cases 2025; 13(17): 103350 [DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i17.103350]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Ming-Jian Lin, MD, Department of Neurosurgery, Gaozhou People’s Hospital, No. 89 Xiguan Road of Gaozhou, Maoming 525200, Guangdong Province, China. lin_mingjian96@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Surgery
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. Jun 16, 2025; 13(17): 103350 Published online Jun 16, 2025. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i17.103350
Intractable subdural effusion after decompressive craniectomy for traumatic brain injury: A case report
Ming-Jian Lin
Ming-Jian Lin, Department of Neurosurgery, Gaozhou People’s Hospital, Maoming 525200, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: Lin MJ contributed to the conceptualization and writing of the manuscript.
Informed consent statement: The patient has signed the informed consent form.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author reports no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ming-Jian Lin, MD, Department of Neurosurgery, Gaozhou People’s Hospital, No. 89 Xiguan Road of Gaozhou, Maoming 525200, Guangdong Province, China. lin_mingjian96@163.com
Received: November 19, 2024 Revised: December 25, 2024 Accepted: January 23, 2025 Published online: June 16, 2025 Processing time: 94 Days and 4 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Traumatic subdural effusion is a common complication of traumatic brain injury, especially after decompressive craniectomy (DC). For neurosurgeons, early diagnosis and timely treatment are particularly important, which can help improve patient prognosis and enhance quality of life.
CASE SUMMARY
A 47 year old male underwent DC for traumatic brain herniation. After surgery, he developed stubborn subdural effusion (SDE) on the contralateral side and underwent multiple subdural drilling and drainage surgeries, but only temporarily improved the patient’s symptoms. After the final cranioplasty, the contralateral SDE completely disappeared. The patient did not experience any new contralateral neurological dysfunction, and the Glasgow prognostic score was 11 points (E4V1M6).
CONCLUSION
For neurosurgeons, accurate assessment of the condition is necessary when treating patients with stubborn SDE after DC surgery, and timely cranioplasty can be performed to avoid multiple surgeries. This is a safe and effective surgical method for treating traumatic subdural effusion.
Core Tip: Traumatic subdural effusion is a common complication of traumatic brain injury, especially after decompressive craniectomy (DC). For neurosurgeons, early diagnosis and timely treatment are particularly important, which can help improve patient prognosis and enhance quality of life. This article reports a case of refractory subdural fluid accumulation after DC, providing reference for clinical work. Contralateral subdural effusion is one of the complications after DC surgery, especially in cases of stubborn subdural effusion, and cranioplasty is an effective treatment method. Our research can provide reference value for the clinical treatment of refractory subdural fluid accumulation after DC.
