Cerebral Hernia Caused By Epidural Hygroma Due to Excessive Drainage of Cerebrospinal Fluid: A Rare Case and Literature Review

Abstract

The cerebral hernia is usually caused by intracranial hematoma, tumor, abscess. Here, we report a rare case of cerebral hernia caused by severe epidural hygroma. The patient was a 51-year-old male, with a large, right-sided skull defect and severe scalp depression, who had received a decompressive craniectomy for traumatic brain injury and a lumboperitoneal shunt for secondary hydrocephalus 6 months earlier. A cranioplasty with titanium mesh was performed after admitted. Unfortunately, he suffered from a complication of epidural fluid collection. Through repeated local treatment of the hygroma, the patient was not better but rather became more and more serious, and developed to cerebral hernia eventually. However, after finding out the root cause, the patient got dramatically improvement just by elevating the valve pressure of the lumboperitoneal shunt. The case and literature review are instructive to the treatment of patients with skull bone defect associated with hydrocephalus.