Successful evacuation of acute pontine hematoma

✓ A patient with acute onset of signs and symptoms pointing to a left pontine lesion is described. Rapid decompensation prompted contrast studies; air injection demonstrated hydrocephalus and a mass arising from the floor of the fourth ventricle. Twenty hours after the onset of symptoms, operative evacuation of a pontine hematoma which had ruptured into the fourth ventricle produced a good result.