Chronic subdural hematoma has been used as a name to signify a condition more commonly spoken of as pachymeningitis interna hemorrhagica. The latter name signifies infection, but the literature shows no authentic proof of infection as an etiologic factor in this disease. In using the term chronic subdural hematoma, I am following the example of Putnam and Cushing and others who have written on this condition.
Chronic subdural hematoma occurs most frequently in infants during the first year and in adults past middle life. A serosanguineous xanthochromic encapsulated fluid is found under the dura, which condition in infants often causes enlargement of the head, vomiting, irritability, hemorrhages in the eyegrounds, downward displacement of the eyes and symptoms of the central nervous system, the most prominent being convulsions.
One of the first cases on record was described by Ambroise Paré, The case was that of Henry II, who was wounded in