Conclusions | Decompressive craniectomy versus craniotomy for patients undergoing surgical evacuation of an acute subdural hematoma: RESCUE-ASDH RCT and cost effectiveness

Decompressive craniectomy versus craniotomy for patients undergoing surgical evacuation of an acute subdural hematoma: RESCUE-ASDH RCT and cost effectiveness · Conclusions

Conclusions

CC BY 4.0 · National Institute for Health and Care Research · approximately 1 min read

In conclusion, among adult patients undergoing evacuation of acute traumatic subdural haematoma, DC and craniotomy gave similar results in overall outcomes at 12 months in the randomised cohort. There were significant differences seen in the observed cohort. Additional craniectomies were required more frequently in the craniotomy group, but wound complications and surgical site infections occurred more frequently in the craniectomy group.

Registration

The trial was registered as ISRCTN87370545.

Protocol

The published trial protocol is available online.

Funding

This project was funded by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme (award ID 12/35/57).

PJH is supported by the NIHR (Senior Investigator Award, NIHR Global Health Research Group on Acquired Brain and Spine Injury, NIHR Health Tech Research Centre for Brain Injury, Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre) and the MRC (TBI-Reporter Grant).

Attribution. Peter Hutchinson; Harry Mee; Hadie Adams; Midhun Mohan; Bhagavatula I Devi; Christopher Uff et al. (2026). Decompressive craniectomy versus craniotomy for patients undergoing surgical evacuation of an acute subdural hematoma: RESCUE-ASDH RCT and cost effectiveness. National Institute for Health and Care Research. Copyright © 2026 Hutchinson et al. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. NCBI Bookshelf NBK624437. CC BY 4.0. Original source ↗. Text reproduced from the Bookshelf XML without changing wording; figures, images and supplements are not reproduced.