Ethmoidal meningoencephalocele and cerebrospinal fluid leak after septoplasty: a rare complication

Year 2017, Volume: 7 Issue: 2, 108 - 111, 30.09.2017

Abdulkadir İmre Ercan Pınar Ahmet Ata Ece

Abstract

A 24-year-old man referred to our clinic with complaint of intermittent
right-sided watery rhinorrhea. Patient underwent nasal septoplasty one
year ago and rhinorrhea occurred two weeks after the surgery. Rhinorrhea
was ignored and then patient developed meningitis two months after the
surgery. Subsequently, meningoencephalocele formation developed. In this
case report, we present a case of meningoencephalocele associated with
cerebrospinal fluid leak diagnosed one year after the septoplasty.
Septoplasty is usually regarded as a relatively safe operation. However,
forceful maneuvers to perpendicular lamina of the ethmoid bone may
cause breakdown of the skull base structures, particularly the
horizontal lamella of the cribriform plate. When this occur, immediate
management is necessary to prevent intracranial complications including
meningitis, intracranial abscess, and pneumocephalus. Delay in the
diagnosis of such injury may cause erosion of the bone and gradual
herniation of the intracranial contents through the skull base defect.

Keywords

Cerebrospinal fluid leak, complication, endoscopic repair, meningoencephalocele, septoplasty, komplikasyon, meningoen- sefalosel, septoplasti, serebrospinal sıvı kaçağı, endoskopik onarım

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