Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Prospective randomized placebo-controlled double-blind clinical study of adjuvant dexamethasone with surgery for chronic subdural haematoma with post-operative subdural drainage: Interim analysis.
Most chronic subdural haematomas (CSDH) are successfully treated neurosurgically. However, operative recurrences occur with a frequency 3-30%, consume resources and potentially prolong length-of stay (LOS). The only adjuvant factor proven to significantly decrease CSDH recurrence rate (RR) is post-operative subdural drainage. ⋯ In this first registered PRPCT, interim analysis suggested that adjuvant DX with post-operative drainage is both safe and may significantly decrease recurrences. A 12.5% point between-groups difference may be reasonable to power a final sample size of approximately n = 89. Future studies could consider adjuvant DX for longer than the arbitrarily-chosen 2 weeks.