Drug therapy for chronic subdural hematoma: Bench to bedside

Chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH) is a common neurosurgical condition. Currently, surgery is the most effective medical intervention for treatment of this disorder. Because CSDH is an inflammatory angiogenic disease involving multifactorial mechanisms, a better understanding of CSDH pathogenesis should facilitate clinical management. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to describe recent progress in elucidation of molecular mechanisms causing CSDH and to summarize the body of knowledge gained from past drug treatment studies. Because hematoma fluid and outer membrane characteristics may be linked to pathology, they could serve as disease biomarkers. Moreover, past drug treatment studies have shown that such biomarkers may mutually synergize to initiate and promote CSDH progression. These findings suggest that modulation of biomarker expression or function using drug therapy may benefit CSDH patients.