P.122 Chronic subdural hematoma drainage under local vs. general anesthesia: systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: Chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH) is one of the most encountered conditions seen in neurosurgery. Although mainstay treatment of cSDH has been burr hole drainage, no consensus yet exists on optimal anesthesic technique for surgical treatment between general (GA) and local (LA) anesthesia. Methods: A search was conducted in MEDLINE (1946 to November 11, 2022), Embase (1974 to November 11, 2022), and PubMed (up to November 11, 2022). We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines to systematically screen studies. Results: Our literature search identified 521 studies, out of which 20 were included. There were a total of 1750 patients who underwent CSDH drainage under LA. The weighted mean age was 71.0 years, and 27.1% were female. Postoperative complication rate was significantly lower in the LA group (odds ratio 0.44, p = 0.004). The mean operative time (mean difference -29.28 minutes, p <0.0001) and length of admission (mean difference -1.58 days, p = 0.0002) were significantly shorter in the LA group. Conclusions: In this meta-analysis, LA shows benefits in shorter operative time, shorter admission length, and fewer postoperative complications. This makes local anesthesia a less invasive alternative to general anesthesia especially in elderly patients.