Craniocervical Manual Lymphatic Drainage Increases the Efficiency of Atorvastatin-Based Treatment of Chronic Subdural Hematoma

The objective of this study is to explore whether craniocervical manual lymphatic drainage (cMLD) can promote hematoma absorption and increase the efficiency of atorvastatin-based conservative treatment in chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH) patients. All CSDH patients treated with atorvastatin-based therapy between October 2020 and February 2022 in our department were retrospectively screened for enrollment. The patients were divided into the control and cMLD groups according to whether cMLD was performed. Head CT or MR images in both groups were obtained before the treatment and 2 weeks and 4 weeks after the treatment. MR images of the deep cervical lymphatic nodes (dCLNs) in 23 patients were obtained in the cMLD group before and approximately 2 weeks after treatment. The volumes of the dCLNs and hematoma were calculated. The primary outcomes are the differences in hematoma volume reduction after 4 weeks of treatment. The secondary outcomes were (1) the differences in hematoma volume reduction between the patients in these two groups in the 2nd week, (2) the dCLN volume change in the cMLD group before and after 2 weeks of treatment, and (3) the percentage of patients who transitioned to surgery because of failure to the conservative treatment. A total of 106 consecutive patients were enrolled in this study for analysis; 54 patients received atorvastatin-based treatment (control group), and 52 were treated with both atorvastatin-based treatment and cMLD (cMLD group). At baseline, the mean hematoma volume was 76.53 ± 42.97 ml in the control group and 88.57 ± 49.01 ml in the cMLD group (p = 0.181). In the 4th week, the absolute number of hematoma reductions (20.79 ± 34.73 ml vs. 37.28 ± 28.24 ml, p = 0.009) and percentage of hematoma reductions (22.58% ± 60.01% vs. 46.43% ± 30.12%, p = 0.012) in the cMLD group were greater than those in the control group. After 2 weeks of treatment, the absolute number of hematoma reductions showed no difference in the two groups, while the percentage of hematoma reduction was higher in the cMLD group (18.18% ± 24.61% vs. 2.08% ± 25.72%, p = 0.001). One patient in cMLD and 8 patients in the control group were transitioned to receive surgical treatment. The dCLN volumes in 23 experimental patients increased significantly after 2 weeks of treatment in the cMLD group (p = 0.032). There were no severe side effects that needed to be reported. Combined with atorvastatin-based therapy, cMLD can promote hematoma absorption and decrease the surgery rate, which provides a new therapeutic strategy for CSDH.