Occurrence of malignant cerebral infarction following intracranial hematoma evacuation in traumatic brain injury: A case report.

Abstract

Background: Traumatic brain injury-related cerebral infarctions are well-documented in the literature. We want to report a case of malignant cerebral infarction that occurred at the contralateral location of evacuated epidural hematoma 3 days after surgery. The early-onset cerebral infarction's clinical presentation was already evident during the initial clinical examination, and it resembled "Kernohan's Notch Syndrome."

Case description: A 57-year-old male Indonesian was taken to our Academic General Hospital's emergency room following a motorcycle accident. His primary complaints were reduced consciousness and left-sided hemiparesis. A head computed tomography (CT) scan revealed an intracerebral hematoma beneath an epidural hematoma (EDH) at the left temporal area. The EDH was surgically removed promptly. The patient's Glasgow coma scale improved, and they were able to follow commands afterwards. The patient had a decreased consciousness 3 days after the surgery. A malignant infarction of the right middle cerebral artery region was identified from the head CT scan evaluation. He immediately had an emergency decompressive craniectomy and had an improvement of consciousness following the surgery.

Conclusion: It is imperative to reassess the initial clinical signs of Kernohan's notch phenomenon to determine whether the offending mass was able to generate this clinical phenomenon. Initial cerebral infarction, which occurs concomitantly with traumatic intracranial hematoma, is a possible cause of clinical deterioration following the surgery.