Remote cerebellar hemorrhage: Report of 2 cases and review of literature

Abstract

Remote cerebellar hemorrhage (RCH) is an extremely rare and potentially devastating complication of supratentorial and spinal surgeries. While there are numerous postulates explaining the patho-physiology behind this phenomenon, including the most popular CSF over drainage theory, the exact cause for the same is still largely unknown. In this report, we present 2 cases of remote cerebellar hemorrhage encountered following 2 different surgical procedures. One patient had preceding pterional craniotomy for ruptured anterior communicating artery aneurysm while the other one developed RCH after placement of EVD. Both of them had history of poorly controlled hypertension, contrary to most reports where hypertension has not been found to be commonly associated with it. Moreover, while most cases have been reported to occur following supratentorial craniotomies and spinal surgeries, one of our patients developed the same after placement of the EVD, which, to the best of our knowledge, has not been reported earlier.