Traumatic subarachnoid haemorrhage: analysis of 89 cases.

Between 1985 and 1990, 2056 patients with head injuries were treated in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Izmir State Hospital. Among them, 89 patients with traumatic subarachnoid haemorrhage (TSAH) were analysed retrospectively. It was noted that focal or global contusion accompanying TSAH was the most common pathology which could be detected in computer tomographic (CT) imaging. CT did not show any other intracranial lesion in 13 cases. Vasospasm developed in one patients and hydrocephalus in two others in the acute stage. Considering the relationship between the severity of a subarachnoid haemorrhage detected on CT and the mortality rate, it was seen that the mortality rate was higher in patients who suffered diffuse subarachnoid haemorrhage with intracerebral or intraventricular clots.