Intranasal Approach Research Articles

CEREBROSPINAL RHINORRHEA WITH PNEUMOCEPHALUS SECONDARY TO SKULL FRACTURE

Cerebrospinal rhinorrhea secondary to fracture of the base of the skull in the anterior fossa, through the frontal sinus, is not infrequently seen. When it occurs it clears up spontaneously with the healing of the fracture, in the majority of the cases. When it persists, the management of this complication of fracture becomes a serious problem of judgment because of the extremely high incidence of meningitis infection following any type of procedure. Pneumocephalus (intracranial pneumocele) is a rare complication of this type of injury; reports of twenty-eight cases had been collected by Dandy¹up to 1926. In the treatment of this condition plastic procedures, from a cranial or intranasal approach, are attended by the difficulties of infection and mechanical problems. More recently, radiotherapy has been used with questionable success. In the case here reported, the utilization of physiologic principles was so gratifying that its report seems justified. The