[Delayed appearance of posttraumatic cerebrospinal fluid fistulas as a cause of recurrent meningitis]. / Verzögertes Auftreten posttraumatischer Liquorfisteln als Ursache rezidivierender Meningitiden.

Immediate post-traumatic fistulas with rhinorrhea are well known after head injury with frontobasal trauma. Less attention is paid to the possibility of delayed onset of rhinorrhea after severe head injury. Unrecognised frontobasal injury may cause recurrent meningitis due to communication of CSF with the outside world. In the last 5 years, seven patients who developed rhinorrhea 2-25 years after trauma were treated in our department. All patients had been through at least two episodes of meningitis. Intermittent rhinorrhea was reported by four. In all cases, coronal bone window CT scan disclosed a bony defect of the anterior skull base, and in three cases an encephalocele was revealed on MRI. Treatment consisted of reconstruction of the anterior skull base with a pedicled galeal-pericranial flap via bifrontal craniotomy. Delayed traumatic CSF fistulas are not rare but must be considered in the differential diagnosis of recurrent meningitis.

[Delayed traumatic CSF-fistulas: a retrospective analysis]. / Verzögernd auftretende Liquorfisteln - eine retrospektive Analyse.

Immediate posttraumatic CSF-fistulas are a well known entity after severe head injury. Delayed onset of rhinorrhea is considered to be rare. In the last 5 years 7 patients were treated in our department, who developed rhinorrhea 2-25 years after trauma. All patients went through episodes of meningitis. In 4 cases intermittent rhinorrhea was reported. In all cases a bony defect of the anterior skull base was detected by coronal bone window CT-scan. In three of them an encephalocele was revealed by MR-scanning. Treatment consisted in reconstruction of anterior skull base with a pedicled galeal-pericranial flap via a bifrontal craniotomy and went out without any complications. Delayed rhinorrhea after severe head injury is not a rare curiosity. In cases of bony defects after head injury reconstruction of anterior skull base is recommended to prevent episodes of recurrent meningitis.

[Pain of the trigeminal nerve as the first symptom of a metastasis from an oesohaguscarcinoma in Meckel's cave - case report]. / Trigeminusneuralgie als Erstsymptom einer Oesophaguskarzinom-Metastase im Cavum Meckeli - Fallbericht.

Pain in all three divisions of the trigeminal nerve is in over 65% of all cases the first symptom of a tumour in Meckel's cave. Tumors in this location make up only 0,5% of all intracranial tumours. The most common are trigeminal schwannomas and meningeomas. A metastases as a cause of trigeminal pain is a rare description in the literature so far. We describe a patient with trigeminal pain and a tumour in Meckels's cave shown in the MRI, who were operated in our department. The histological examination of the tumour resulted in the diagnosis of metastatic carcinoma of an until then unknown oesophaguscarcinoma. - Although metastatic tumours are rare, we could show with our case, that they have to be included in differential dignostic considerations.

Technical note: external cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) drainage by percutaneous needle punction in newborn children.

External drainage of CSF in children is indicated in acute hydrocephalus e.g. after intraventricular bleeding or infection. In these cases the drainage has to remain in place until physiological CSF circulation is restored or an internal shunt can be inserted. External drainage is mostly performed using a silicon catheter connected to a plastic bag. An external CSF drainage left for several days in situ bears an increasing risk of bacterial infection. In these cases a metal needle minimizes the risk of ventriculitis. For prevention of accompanying infection we implanted a Cytocan port needle with a 20 G diameter in 7 infants. The needle is easily inserted with low risk of complications. By its plastic top angulated at 90 degrees to the needle the system can be fixed to the skin very safely by suture or tape. With this system neither an implantation related intracerebral haemorrhage nor an accompanying ventriculitis was encountered. In two cases a pre-existing ventriculitis was cured by this needle drainage and antibiotic treatment. In five cases an acute hydrocephalus after intraventricular haemorrhage was drained by the port needle system.