[Evaluation of hypertensive intracerebral hematomas based on the study of long-term outcome--part IV: Prognostic importance of the age of the patient and the laterality of the lesion in putaminal hematoma].

: The age of the patient and the laterality of the lesion are said to play an important role in determining surgical indications and prognosis of any neurosurgical disease. These two factors have been evaluated in 355 cases of putaminal haematoma, which were seen during the last 10 years after the introduction of the CT scan. Patients have been divided in three age groups; less than 59 years, 60-69 years and greater than 70 years, consisting of 235, 80 and 40 cases in each group respectively. Long-term outcome of three groups has been compared in both surgically and conservatively treated patients. The hematoma was situated on left side in 182 and on right side in 173 cases. 56.6% of left sided and 48.7% of right sided hematoma cases were operated. The long-term outcome of the two sides has also been compared in both surgically and conservatively treated patients. One has to be careful while considering patients of greater than 70 years of age as there is always some natural selection among these patients before they are referred to the hospital or are operated upon thereafter. One tends to be less aggressive for so old patients. Only in moderate type and operated cases the younger patients (less than 59 years) showed a better long-term outcome (ADL) than other surgically treated patients. Otherwise age did not effect the long-term outcome (ADL) in any type of putaminal haematoma. No effect of laterality was found in mild and very severe types of hematoma for the long-term outcome.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)