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Besides the loss of consciousness, other symptoms of intercranial epidural hematoma include:

• Shock
• Drowsiness
• Cognitive dysfunction that manifests in episodes of confusion and slow-thinking
• Lethargy
• Enlarged or asymmetric pupils
• Seizures/shortness of breath/convulsions
• Poor attention span
• Personality changes
• Headaches (may come and go and get worse over time )
• Mild paralysis
• Weakness on one side of the body, known as hemiparesis
• Brief episodes of extensive paralysis
• Brief episodes of speaking difficulties
• Loss of apetite
• Nausea and vomiting

Spinal epidural hematoma
Spinal epidural hematoma causes compression of the spinal cord. Symptoms vary with the amount and location of this pressure. Back pain may be slight or absent. The patient may have loss of feeling (anesthesia) or less-than-normal feeling (hypoesthesia) in the legs, arm, or trunk. There may be weakening of the legs and loss of deep tendon reflexes. There may be bowel and bladder dysfunction (e.g., incontinence or inability to control the bladder or bowels).

Treatment of epidural hematoma

Intercranial epidural hematoma

As with subdural hematomas, the surgical indication depends on the neurological condition of the patient. On a patient in a coma, surgery will be done to remove the mass of blood and relieve the pressure. In patients not in a coma, surgeons look at the thickness of the blood in the brain and its volume. Usually with a thickness more than 15mm and a Glasgow Coma Scale of 9 or lower, surgery will be recommended. The surgical procedure may be done through a burr hole or craniotomy.

Spinal epidural hematoma

Besides surgery, with minimally invasive spinal discectomy or other procedures, the non-surgery treatment for spinal epidural hematima includes spinal injection that involves delivering anti-inflammatory medication—typically a steroid combined with an anesthetic—directly into the area around the irritated spinal nerves that are causing the pain.

Post-treatment Recovery

Intercranial epidural hematoma
The prognosis of epidural hematomas is usually better than with subdural hematomas because the calvarium
absorbs some of the force. The brain is therefore relatively spared. Prognosis of patients is also better if there was a lucid interval than if the patient was comatose from the time of injury. Patients with a Glasgow Coma Scale of 3 (the lowest score) can be expected to make a good outcome if they receive surgery quickly. The degree and rate of recovery varies from patient to patient, but in general children recover more quickly than adults. Seizure, which can most often be controlled with medication, is a common long-term complication.

Spinal epidural hematoma

While the majority of postoperative spinal epidural hematomas are clinically asymptomatic, the rare hematoma that causes significant spinal cord or nerve root compression can result in devastating neurologic consequences. Timely recognition and intervention are important for functional recovery, however, a favorable prognosis can depend on several factors such as the rate of development of symptoms, time to surgical decompression, spinal level involvement, and the degree of neurologic deficit.