Management of CSF leak in base of skull fractures in adults.

AIMS: CSF leaks are not uncommon after a base of skull fracture. Currently there is no standardised algorithm for the investigation and management of post-traumatic CSF leaks. In this paper we aim to provide an evidence-based framework for managing post-traumatic CSF leaks. METHODS: We searched the English literature over the past 45 years using CINAHL, EMBASE and MEDLINE for the terms (1) post-traumatic CSF leaks or fistulas, and (2) basilar or base of skull fractures, but excluded papers on post-operative and non-traumatic CSF leaks, and papers on paediatric post- traumatic CSF leaks. RESULTS: The diagnosis of a base of skull fracture and any resultant CSF leak can be challenging. Therefore a combination of biochemical and radiological studies are needed to optimise the diagnosis of this condition. Post-traumatic CSF leaks are generally treated conservatively, and a majority of them resolve without further surgical management. However for patients who are refractory to such treatments, surgical closure of the CSF fistula is necessary. Surgical obliteration of CSF leaks can be challenging and requires the involvement of multiple surgical specialties such as neurosurgery, otolaryngology, and maxillofacial surgery. CONCLUSION: Although we have formulated a simple algorithm to aid the investigation and management of post-traumatic CSF leaks, there are still many important unresolved questions requiring further well powered studies to answer.

Cerebrospinal fluid fistula prevention and treatment following frontal sinus fractures: a review of initial management and outcomes.

Frontal sinus fractures are heterogeneous, and management of these fractures is often modified based on injury pattern and institutional experience. The optimal initial treatment of frontal sinus fractures is controversial. Treatment strategies are aimed at correcting cosmetic deformity, as well as at preventing delayed complications, including CSF fistulas, mucocele formation, and infection. Existing treatment options include observation, reconstruction, obliteration, cranialization, or a combination thereof. Modalities for treatment encompass both open surgical approaches and endoscopic techniques. In the absence of Class I data, the authors review the existing literature related to treatment strategies of frontal sinus fractures, particularly as they relate to CSF fistulas, to provide recommendations based on the best available evidence.

Osteoinductive effect of cerebrospinal fluid from brain-injured patients.

Patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) are predisposed to heterotopic ossification, which is believed to be due to osteoinductive factors released at the site of the brain injury. To date, little is known about the presence of such factors in human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). This study investigated whether CSF of TBI patients is osteoinductive. In addition, known osteoinductive factors--such as bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2, BMP-4, and BMP-7, and S100B--were measured in CSF. Eighty-four consecutive patients were classified according to brain pathology: TBI (n = 11), non-traumatic brain pathology (NTBP) (n = 26), and no brain pathology (control group) (n = 47). The osteoinductive effect of CSF was measured repeatedly in proliferation assays using a fetal human osteoblast cell line. The mean proliferation rate (normalized to the internal negative control) of the TBI, NTBP, and control groups was 138.2% (SD 13.1), 110.0% (SD 22.1), and 118.8% (SD 16.9), respectively. The potentially confounding effect of age was investigated further by restricting the selection of patients for analysis to that of the oldest patient in the TBI group and use of multiple regression analysis. After implementation of both, it was shown that age is highly unlikely to account for the higher rates of proliferation observed among the TBI patients in this study. Of note, the TBI group had a significantly higher mean proliferation rate than the NTBP (p = 0.001) and the control group (p = 0.006). S100B and BMP-2, -4, or -7 concentrations were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). There was no correlation between proliferation rates and S100B (r = 0.023). Only three of 36 CSF samples had measurable levels of BMP-2 and -7, and none had detectable concentrations of BMP-4. Consequently, it is unlikely that S100B or BMP-2, -4, or -7 are the putative osteoinductive factors. The results indicate that CSF from TBI patients has an osteoinductive effect in vitro. However, the osteoinductive factor has still to be characterized.

Headache in cerebrospinal fluid volume depletion syndrome: a case report.

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) volume depletion syndrome is due to leakage of cerebrospinal fluid through lesions of the dural sac at the level of the cranial base or of the spine. When past medical history is negative for recent trauma or surgery, the term spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH) is used. SIH is characterized clinically by orthostatic headache, neck pain, nausea, emesis, horizontal diplopia, tinnitus, plugged ear, hearing difficulties, blurring of vision, facial numbness, and upper limb radicular symptoms. In SIH, brain and cervical MR scans show a diffuse pachymeningeal gadolinium enhancement that ends at the site of CSF leakage. The application of epidural blood patches has been proposed as an effective therapy for SIH. Here we describe a case of SIH with very unusual headache features; the patient reported a paradoxical pattern of postural headache provoked by clinostatic position. The CSF leakage was identified at the convexity of the skull and headache disappeared following treatment with fluid, analgesics and steroids.

Rapid, accurate and non-invasive detection of cerebrospinal fluid leakage using combined determination of beta-trace protein in secretion and serum.

BACKGROUND: beta-Trace protein (Btp) has been proposed as a valuable marker of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage overcoming the drawbacks of beta-2-transferrin (B-2Tr) determination. However, there is still controversy about the appropriate cut-offs to be used (range 0.35-6 mg/L). The aim of the study was to evaluate cut-offs of Btp determination for detection CSF leakage. Further, we assessed whether the Btp secretion to serum ratio (Btp-sec/ser-ratio) would add diagnostic value. METHODS: Prospective study in patients with suspected CSF leakage. Quantitative determination of Btp in secretion and serum (Dade-Behring) and qualitative measurement of B-2-Tr in secretion and serum. Results were assessed in view of clinical data. Cut-offs and diagnostic characteristics were determined by ROC analysis. RESULTS: A total of 176 samples were assessed originating from 105 patients. In 43 samples CSF leakage could be confirmed. Sensitivity of B-2-Tr was 84%, specificity amounted to 100%. The area under the curve (AUC) for Btp-measurement in secretion was 0.98. At a cut-off of 0.68 mg/L, sensitivity was 100% and specificity 91%. At a cut-off of 1.11 mg/L, the specificity was 100% with a sensitivity of 93%. The Btp-sec/ser-ratio has an AUC of 0.99. Combining a 0.68 mg/L cut-off in secretion with a Btp-sec/ser-ratio cut-off of 4.9 reveals a sensitivity of 99% and a specificity of 100%. CONCLUSIONS: Btp is a rapid and accurate marker for the presence of CSF leakage. Combining measurement of Btp in secretion together with determination of the Btp-sec/ser-ratio enhances the diagnostic characteristics of the Btp assay. Determination of Btp in both serum and secretion is thus recommended.

[Surgery of anterior skull base fractures]. / Operative Versorgung von Verletzungen der Frontorhinobasis.

BACKGROUND AND METHODS: The medical records of 144 patients that underwent surgery due to fractures of the anterior skull base between 1990 and 1999 were assessed retrospectively. Fracture causes, symptoms, fracture lines, surgical approaches and materials for dura repair were analyzed. RESULTS: The most frequent fracture causes were automobile (46.1%), recreational (24.8%) and occupational accidents (16.3%). While a decrease in automobile accidents was observed from 1996 (71.4%) to 1999 (33.3%), an increase in sports accidents was documented from 1990 (5.3%) to 1999 (16.7%). The most common accompanying injuries were CSF leakage (38.9%), loss of vision (28.5%) and intracranial bleeding (21.5%). The roof of the ethmoid sinus (79.7%) and the frontal sinus (anterior and posterior wall) (73.6%) were fractured most commonly. The lamina cribrosa was involved in 32.6%, the sphenoid sinus in 29.2% of the fractures. Most commonly the bitemporal Unterberger approach (75.7%) was used. To a lesser degree the uni- (13.9%) or bilateral (4.8%) Kilian approach, the reopening of the old wound (4.2%) and the endonasal approach (1.4%) were utilized. Conserved dura was applied for the closure of CSF leaks in 80.7%, periostal flaps in 20.7%, fascia lata in 14.8% and TachoComb in 8.2%. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate that posttraumatic fractures of the anterior skull base are declining in frequency. The most common causes for these injuries were automobile accidents but increasingly sports accidents. Typical fracture lines or combinations were not observed. In the period observed the bitemporal Unterberger approach and resorbable implant materials such as the coated collagen fleece TachoComb were increasingly used for surgery.

Analysis of 158 frontal sinus fractures: current surgical management and complications.

A retrospective analysis is presented of 158 patients who sustained frontal sinus fractures and were subsequently treated in the Division of Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Turin, from 1987 to 1998. The fractures were subdivided according to involvement of anterior and posterior walls, and of the nasofrontal duct. While treatment involving only the anterior wall is well standardized and without complications, management of anterior plus posterior wall fractures or involving the nasofrontal duct is still controversial. In dislocated posterior wall fractures, cranialization and obliteration of the remaining dead space and of the nasofrontal ducts using bone grafts, combined with the use of a pericranium flap, allow separation of the nasal cavity from the anterior cranial fossa, preventing ascending infections and thus reducing the rate of complications. When the fracture involves the nasofrontal duct with the posterior wall substantially intact, it is better to re-establish patency of the nasofrontal duct with a drainage tube and preserve the function of the sinus. A protocol used in the management of each group of fractures, clinical and radiological results, timing of operation, surgical procedures, outcomes, and long-term complications are all discussed.

Concentration of enkephalins in cerebrospinal fluid of patients after severe head injury.

We studied head-injured patients treated at the Department of Neurosurgery, Silesian University School of Medicine, Katowice. The patients underwent lumbar puncture on days 1, 4 and 7 for diagnostic reasons. The levels of leu-enkephalin (LENK) and met-enkephalin (MENK) were examined in 4.5 ml of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The control group included patients with lumbar discopathy from whom CSF fluid was collected during myelography. Enkephalins were extracted by column chromatography and their levels were assayed radioimmunologically. The results indicate that enkephalins may play a certain role in the pathophysiological response of nervous tissue to traumatic injury. Constantly elevated MENK levels together with decreasing LENK levels in patients with a Glasgow coma scale score < or = 8 may be useful as a poor prognostic factor. It is also suggested that LENK and MENK play different pathophysiological roles.

[The characteristics of the biochemical reactions of the cerebrospinal fluid in victims with gunshot wounds of the skull and brain in relation to treatment outcome]. / Osobennosti biokhimicheskikh reaktsii tserebrospinal'noi zhidkosti u postradavshikh s ognestrel'nymi raneniiami cherepa i golovnogo mozga v zavisimosti ot iskhoda lecheniia.

Biochemical reactions of the liquor were investigated in 68 patients with gunshot wounds of the skull and brain and in closed treatment of the brain wound. The reactivity of biochemical system plays a certain role in the development of infectious complications. In dead people the developing pathogenetical biochemical syndromes having a sanogenic role of clearance from antigens of the injured tissues turn pathogenesis into thanatogenesis.

[The immunological and biochemical reactions of the cerebrospinal fluid in victims of blast injuries of the skull and brain]. / Immunologicheskie i biokhimicheskie reaktsii tserebrospinal'noi zhidkosti u postradavshikh s vzryvnymi porazheniiami cherepa i golovnogo mozga.

An analysis of immunobiochemical indices of the cerebrospinal fluid has shown possibilities to establish objective mechanisms of injuries of the brain by explosions. Biochemical manifestations of the cytolysis syndrome can be taken as symptoms of primary injury of the brain under conditions of burst polytrauma since increased activity of cytoplasmic and mitochondrial enzymes in the liquor is directly proportional to the brain trauma degree. The primary injury of the brain is characterized by a specific immune response: increased concentration of IgG, IgA in the liquor with the increased circulation of immune complexes.

The concept of transtympanic injection of fibrin caulk.

Cerebrospinal fluid otorhinorrhea after basilar skull trauma poses a difficult management problem. When conservative techniques fail, more aggressive neurosurgical and otologic procedures are required to control cerebrospinal fluid leakage. We assessed a less invasive method for the repair of traumatic cerebrospinal fluid fistulas. Thirty-one adult Sprague-Dawley rats were used to develop an animal model for the treatment of cerebrospinal fluid leakage. A fistula was created by removing a thin plate of bone from the superior aspect of the rat bulla. The bulla was then plugged with a transtympanic injection of fibrin caulk. Otoscopic and histologic data were collected at selected intervals. Transtympanic injection of fibrin caulk failed to alter significantly the rate of healing of cerebrospinal fluid fistulas. Coagulum retraction, rapid fibrinolysis, and other reasons for failure are explored.

[Assessment of surgical-orthopaedic management in craniofacial injuries complicated with nasal liquorrhoea]. / Ocena postepowania chirurgiczno-ortopedycznego w obrazeniach twarzowoczaszkowych powiklanych plynotokiem nosowym.

On the basis of experiences during 10 years with the cooperation of the departments of neurosurgery and maxillofacial surgery in the Province Hospital in Rzeszów the methods of surgical-orthopaedic management were assessed in craniofacial injuries. Out of 95 cases of craniofacial injuries treated in the years 1976-1985, in 42 cases (44.2%) nasal liquorrohea was present. For immobilization of the maxillary block in 32 cases Federspiel's traction was used, and in 5 cases interosseous binding of Adams. In 6 cases intermaxillary immobilization was applied. In this group of 42 cases of craniofacial injuries complicated with liquorrhoea in 24 (57.1%) liquorrhoea was stopped.

Beta-endorphin-like immunoreactivity in CSF of patients with acute head injury. A clinical report of 36 cases.

beta-endorphin-like immunoreactivity (beta-ELI) was measured in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 36 patients with acute head injury and 12 controls. The mean values of beta-ELI in CSF of controls and patients with moderate and severe acute head injury were 51.9 +/- 5.6 pg/ml, 110.5 pg/ml, and 173.8 +/- 20.1 pg/ml respectively, with significant difference between them (p less than 0.05). The results showed that beta-ELI increased in CSF of acute head injury patients.

[Crystallographic study of cerebrospinal fluid in closed craniocerebral injuries in children]. / Kristallograficheskoe issledovanie spinnomozgovoi zhidkosti pri zakrytoi cherepno-mozgovoi travme u detei.

The authors examined 65 children with closed head trauma of varying severity and 68 children with other acute neurological diseases. A new method of the diagnosis and assessment of the severity of closed craniocerebral injury, namely, crystallographic examination of the patients' cerebrospinal fluid, was used in the study. The method helped to establish the clinical forms of closed head trauma and to determine its severity and the presence of complications.

[Changes in the cerebrospinal fluid lactate concentration of children with cranio-cerebral injuries]. / Osobennosti izmenenii soderzhaniia laktata v likvore u detei s cherepno-mozgovoi travmoi.

Examination of the cerebrospinal fluid in 43 children with craniocerebral trauma revealed a dependence of the lactate content on the degree of the injury (9.2 +/- 1.2 mg% in mild trauma; 13.5 +/- 1.7 mg% in moderate trauma; 18.3 +/- 1.7 mg% in severe trauma) and the clinical course. The cerebrospinal fluid is normalized 7-10 days after a moderate brain trauma, and in 3 weeks after a severe trauma. The findings suggest that the values of the cerebrospinal fluid lactate content are lower in children than in adults (9.7 mg%, on the average, in children under 10 years of age, and 11.3 mg% in those over 10 years of age).

[Disorders of dopamine and 5-hydroxytryptamine metabolism in the early period after cranio-cerebral injuries]. / Zaburzenia metabolizmu dopaminy i 5-hydroksytryptaminy u chorych we wczesnym okresie po urazach czaszkowo-mózgowych.

In patients with signs of intracranial hypertension caused by subdural haematoma or brain oedema following craniocerebral trauma significantly increased concentrations of HVA and 5-HIAA were found in the cerebrospinal fluid obtained by means of lumbar punction in relation to a control group comprising patients with lumbar disc prolapse. In patients after craniocerebral injuries with open fracture of cranial bones without disturbances of consciousness dopaminergic system hyperactivity was observed lasting up to the 7th day after injury. In patients with symptoms of brain commotion after craniocerebral trauma a significant rise in 5-HIAA concentration was observed in the cerebrospinal fluid on the 7th day after trauma. This may suggest increased serotonin turnover early after trauma.