Aamir Dawood, Syed Zahid Hussain Shah, Muhammad Aamir.
Frequency of External Ventricular Drain Related Infection.
Pak J Neuro Surg Jan ;19(3):160-5.

The management of brain tumors of the pediatric brain tumors may involve surgical option like craniotomy. This procedure can lead to the complications like cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage which is difficult to manage. This study was an audit of craniotomy among pediatric brain tumor patients. Objective: To determine the frequency of CSF leak after craniotomy for paediatric brain tumor. Study Design: Descriptive case series. Setting: Department of Neurosurgery, Nishtar Hospital, Multan. Duration: 03 year 01/06/2010 to 30/06/2013. Methods: This study included 208 patients with pediatric brain tumors. All the patients had craniotomy done through supratentorial or infratentorial approach. The patients were followed up for occurrence of CSF leakage upto two weeks. Data was collected in a specially designed performa. Results: The mean age of the patients was 10.36 ± 4.97 years (range 6 months – 18 years). There were 44 (21.2%) female and 164 (79.8%) patients were male. Craniotomies through supratentorial and infratentorial approach were done in 176 (84.6%) and 32 (15.4%) patients, respectively. CSF leakage was observed among 28 (13.5%) patient. Conclusions: The CSF leakage rates after craniotomy in pediatric population having brain tumors are high. However, this rate is high among patients who undergo through infratentorial techniques as compared to supratentorial technique. Abbreviations: CSF = Cerebrospinal fluid. CNS = Central nervous system.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com