Objective: Burr-hole irrigation and burr-hole drainage without irrigation are the most popular methods for treatment of chronic subdural haematoma. It is not well known if irrigation is necessary or which method has a higher recurrence rate. We compared the recurrence rates of those two methods.
Materials and methods: Forty-two patients were treated by burr-hole irrigation (irrigation group), whereas 38 patients were treated by burr-hole drainage (drainage group). Recurrence rate and its relation with sex, age, haematoma localization and aetiology were investigated in both groups.
Results: There was no significant difference between recurrence rates of the two groups. There was also no correlation between recurrence rate and age, sex, haematoma localization, or aetiology.
Conclusions: There was no significant difference between recurrence rates of the two groups. Since the burr-hole drainage method is simpler to carry out, its use may be preferable.