Comparison Between Stereotactic Aspiration and Intra-endoscopic Surgery to Treat Intracerebral Hemorrhage

Although the incidence and mortality of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) have been decreased with the improved management of high blood pressure, ICH may induce serious disability for the patients and continue to be a major socioeconomic problem. The evacuation of ICH using open craniotomy or computer tomography (CT)-guided stereotaxy may improve the survival rate of these patients but failed to prove efficacy in improving patients' functional outcome despite numerous efforts. Endoscopy-guided evacuation of ICH provides a less invasive and quicker surgical decompression, which may potentially improve the functional outcome for patients. In previous studies, endoscope-guided evacuation of ICH is often referred to as that an endoscope only provides an illuminating system while the operating channel is independent from the endoscope (endoscopy-controlled microneurosurgery or endoscopy-assisted microneurosurgery). In recent years, authors have been committed to explore the procedure of intra-endoscopy-guided evacuation of ICH, which means that the illuminating channel, the irrigation-aspiration channel and the working channel are all located in the endoscope. This kind of procedure can be called as real endoscopic neurosurgery (EN), which may potentially decrease the operative concomitant injuries at the most extent. However, the inherent drawbacks of intra-endoscopic procedures, including the limited visualization of the surgical field and the difficult maintenance of patency of the aspiration wand, can offset the advantages in some instances. The authors exclusively invented a special endoscopic transparent sheath for guiding hematoma puncture and an agitation-aspiration system (AAS) for keeping patency of the aspiration wand. Detailed procedures of their application will be implemented and verified in a series of patients with intracerebral hemorrhage. Meanwhile, the mortality rate, complications and other outcome parameters between this procedure and CT-guided procedures will be compared.