Acute spontaneous subdural hematoma-causes-will it recur?

Dear Ask The Doctor: In Oct 2008 at the age of 56 I suffered an acute spontaneous subdural hematoma while on Company Business in Houston, TX. I live in NY. Dr. Wayne Hurt performed 2 surgeries on me. He and his wife died in a house fire in Jan 2009 so I cannot consult with him. No cause for the hematoma was found. I never had an accident or injury. What are possible causes for this? How likely is it to happen again? I was taking Arthrozyme(and otc supplement) for arthritis. Could this have caused the hematoma? I am afraid to travel again and worry about this happening again.

Dear Renee:

A subdural hematoma occurs when blood vessel, usually veins rupture between your brain and the outermost of three membrane layers that cover your brain which is called Dura Mater. The leaking blood forms a hematoma that compresses the brain tissue and cause serious complications.

Without any doubt, the most common cause is trauma; however there are other conditions that increase the risk like Blood vessel disorders, such as arteriovenous malformation (AVM) or aneurysm, hypertension, Use of blood thinners, Bleeding disorders, alcohol and Drugs such as cocaine or amphetamines, nevertheless there are also spontaneous hematomas with no known cause.

The medication that you take is very unlikely to have caused your bleeding, but I would suggest you that if they previously did not ruled out coagulation issues, consult a new physician to rule out that possibility.