The surgical efficacy for supratentorial intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) remains unknown. We compared the advantages of the widely practiced endoscopic hematoma removal under local anesthesia with that of craniotomy under general anesthesia for ICH. We also focused on our novel operative concept of intentional hematoma leaving technique to avoid further damage to the brain. We retrospectively analyzed 134 consecutive patients (66 endoscopies and 68 craniotomies) who were surgically treated for supratentorial ICH. The characteristics of the 134 patients were as follows: The median (interquartile range) age was 73 (61-82) years. The median Glasgow Coma Scale scores at admission, on day 7, and the median modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score at 6 months were 10 (7-13), 13 (10-14), and 4 (3-5) respectively. The statistical comparison revealed there were no differences in GCS score on day seven between the endoscopy 13 (12-14) and craniotomy group 12 (9-14). No differences were observed in mRS scores at 6 months between the endoscopy 4 (2-5) and craniotomy group 4 (3-5). However, the patients treated with our technique tended to have favorable outcomes. Multivariate analysis revealed the operative time was significantly decreased in the endoscopy group compared to the craniotomy group (p < 0.001). Spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhages (ICHs) are responsible for 10%-30% of all strokes and they remain a significant cause of all stroke-related mortality and morbidity 1,2. ICH is a medical emergency with high fatality and disability rates. The median 30-day mortality rate after ICH is approximately 15-50% 3,4 and only 20% of patients regain functional independence within three months after the ictus 5. Surgical hematoma removal and conservative therapy are the main treatments for ICH; however, the role of surgery for most patients with ICH remains controversial. Theoretically, surgical hematoma removal prevents herniation by reducing the intracranial pressure and decreasing the pathophysiological impact of the hematoma on surrounding tissue 2. However, the effectiveness of surgery has been repeatedly evaluated 6,7 and its benefits are still under discussion. The Surgical Trial in Intracerebral Haemorrhage (STICH) indicated that patients with spontaneous supratentorial ICH showed no overall benefit from the early surgery when compared to the initial conservative therapy. However, operative intervention occurred in 24% of patients in the initial conservative treatment group 6. Therefore, the interpretation of these results is complicated. The STICH II trial confirmed that early surgery did not increase the rate of death or disability, 6 months postoperatively, and may have a small but clinically relevant survival advantage for patients with spontaneous superficial ICH without an intraventricular hemorrhage 7. A recent report based primarily on the STICH II trial reported that only patients with a GCS 10-13 or a large ICH were likely to benefit from surgery 8. However, the STICH and STICH II trials did not exhibit an overall comp...