Questions patients actually ask.

A subdural hematoma is blood collected outside the brain, beneath its outer protective covering. It differs from an ischemic stroke, which is caused by a blocked artery, and an intracerebral hemorrhage, which is bleeding inside brain tissue. Symptoms can overlap and require urgent assessment.

No. Some small, stable collections can be monitored with examinations and repeat imaging. Others require drainage, MMA embolization, or both. Significant pressure on the brain or worsening neurologic symptoms can require emergency surgery.

For some carefully selected patients with chronic subdural hematoma, MMA embolization can be used without drainage. It is also used alongside surgery to reduce recurrence. It does not immediately remove the blood collection and should not delay urgent decompression.

Yes. Chronic subdural hematomas can recur after treatment. Follow-up imaging matters even when symptoms improve. MMA embolization can lower the chance of recurrence in appropriate patients, but it cannot eliminate that risk.

Contact Neurovascular Centers at 833-787-6539 or use the appointment request link. Bring your CT or MRI images, reports, medication list, and hospital records. For new weakness, trouble speaking, a seizure, or worsening drowsiness, call 911 instead of waiting for an appointment.

There is no single sensation. Some people have a persistent or worsening headache. Others notice imbalance, confusion, sleepiness, personality change, weakness, or speech difficulty. A chronic collection can be subtle enough that a family member notices the change first. Imaging, not a symptom checklist, makes the diagnosis.

Chronic collections develop or persist over weeks. A person may have symptoms for days to weeks before a scan is done, sometimes after a fall that seemed minor. Once diagnosed, the treating team decides whether observation is safe or treatment should proceed. Do not wait out new or worsening neurologic symptoms.

Acute bleeding is recent, often after significant head trauma, and can deteriorate within hours. Chronic collections are older, often in older adults, and may follow a minor injury weeks earlier. Subacute sits between those stages. The label describes the age and appearance of the blood; it does not by itself say it is safe to wait.

It is typically a crescent-shaped collection along the inner skull. Acute blood is often bright (hyperdense). Chronic blood is often darker (hypodense). Mixed density can mean blood of different ages. Radiologists also describe mass effect and midline shift. A specialist interprets the images with your exam, not the report in isolation.

It can be. Rapidly expanding acute bleeding, large mass effect, or declining alertness is an emergency. Many chronic collections are treated in a planned way and some small stable ones are observed. Urgency is decided by symptoms and imaging together.

Do not stop aspirin, warfarin, a DOAC, or another prescribed medicine on your own. The bleeding risk must be weighed against the reason the drug was prescribed—such as atrial fibrillation, a stent, or a prior clot. Only the treating team should change these medicines.

A specialist guides a small catheter from an artery in the wrist or groin to the middle meningeal artery. Embolic material blocks selected branches that supply abnormal membranes around a chronic subdural hematoma. Reducing that supply can help the collection resolve and lower recurrence risk. It does not instantly evacuate the blood.

No. Randomized trials and 2026 SNIS guidance support an important role for MMA embolization in selected patients with chronic subdural hematoma. The strongest recommendation is as an adjunct to surgical drainage. It is still not appropriate for every subdural bleed, especially acute emergencies.

Hospital stay depends on symptoms, other illness, and whether drainage was also performed. The collection usually shrinks over weeks to months rather than overnight. Your team sets the scan schedule, activity plan, and medication plan. Symptom improvement and scan improvement may not move in lockstep.

Some small, stable collections are observed and can diminish with time, close follow-up, and treatment of contributing factors. Others enlarge, cause pressure, or recur and need drainage, embolization, or both. Observation is a medical plan, not the same as ignoring the diagnosis.

Bring the actual CT or MRI images (not only the paper report), hospital records, a current medication list including blood thinners, a symptom timeline, insurance information, and a referral if your plan requires one. Transfer records through the office’s secure process.

No. Subdural.com is patient education operated by Neurovascular Centers. It does not provide an individual diagnosis, prescribe treatment, or create a physician–patient relationship. Emergency symptoms require 911, not a website or an appointment form.