CEREBROSPINAL OTORRHEA WITH MENINGITIS IN CONGENITAL DEAFNESS.

Abstract

Cerebrospinal otorrhea is a rare but dangerous condition as it is often combined with meningitis. Most cases of cerebrospinal otorrhea can be related to traumatic fractures through the labyrinthine bony capsule or infectious destruction of the thin bony wall between the cerebrospinal cavity and the middle ear (Claus, Dysart, Caneghem). A few cases have been described in literature, however, where the cerebrospinal otorrhea has been of different origin. Dehiscence in the temporal bone with more or less developed prolapse of the dura and the brain into the middle ear has been described (Ferrer, Kline, Koch). Most of these defects have been related to congenital malformation of the temporal bone. Nenzelius found a fistula ending on the promontory in a malformed ear in a 15-month-old baby. Bauer described spontaneous otoliquorrhea with meningitis in a 4-year-old boy who died of meningitis and where sections from the temporal bone showed a congenital cyst