Turkish Neurosurgery 2014 , Vol 24 , Num 6
Neurosurgical Treatment of Cerebrovascular Complications of Heart Surgeries and Interventions
Jan CHRASTINA1,2, Zdeněk NOVÁK1,2, Jaroslav BRICHTA3, Petr PAVLÍK4, Ivo ŘÍHA1,2, Petr NĚMEC4
1Masaryk University, School of Medicine, St. Anne’s Teaching Hospital, Department of Neurosurgery, Pekarska 53, Brno, Czech Republic
2CEITEC - Central European Institute of Technology, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
3Masaryk University, School of Medicine, St. Anne’s Teaching Hospital, First Department of Neurology, Pekarska 53, Brno, Czech Republic
4Department of Cardiovascular and Transplantation Surgery, Pekarska 53, Brno, Czech Republic
DOI : 10.5137/1019-5149.JTN.10240-13.0 AIM: Intracerebral haematoma and brain ischaemia are rare life-threatening complications of cardiovascular surgery. The aim of this study is to present the experience with the neurosurgical treatment of patients with cerebrovascular complications of heart surgery.

MATERIAL and METHODS: Patients with brain ischaemia or intracerebral haematoma in the acute phase after heart surgery or invasive intervention operated on between 2002 and 2011 were reviewed. There were 3 patients with middle cerebral artery infarction requiring decompressive craniectomy (2 males, 1 female; mean age 54.3 years) and 5 patients with intracerebral haematoma (3 males, 2 females; mean age 55 years). The type of surgery for intracerebral haematoma was selected individually preferring minimally invasive techniques: stereotactic aspiration (2 patients), neuroendoscopy (1 patient), stereotactic craniotomy (1 patient) or classical craniotomy (1 patient).

RESULTS: The results of decompressive craniectomy were unsatisfactory: GOS 1, 3 and 4 in 1 patient each. The results of surgery for intracerebral haematoma were GOS 5 in 1 patient, GOS 4 in 2 patients, and lethal in 2 patients.

CONCLUSION: Minimally invasive neurosurgery techniques appear to be beneficial for selected patients with intracerebral haematoma after heart surgeries even when considering the limited number of patients. Decompressive craniectomy should be considered strictly individually. Keywords : Brain ischaemia, Cardiovascular surgery, Decompressive craniectomy, Intracerebral haematoma, Stereotaxy

Corresponding author : Jan Chrastina, jan.chrastina@fnusa.cz