Mohammad Wasim Khan.
Spontaneous CSF Rhinorrhoea an Experience at King Khalid University Hospital Riyadh.
Pak J Neuro Surg Jan ;14(1):8-11.

Objective: Spontaneous CSF rhinorrhoea is relatively uncommonly diagnosed entity. The objective of this study was to find out the common features in the study group and try to establish the cause of rhinorrhoea in these patients.Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, files of all the patients who underwent surgery from January 1996 to December 2007 for spontaneous CSF rhinorrhoea were reviewed. Patients who had history of head trauma or cranial surgery were excluded from the study. All the patients had CT scan brain with CT cisterno-graphy whereas only three patients had MRI brain as well. All the patients had transcranial repair of CSF fistula. Patients were followed for 5 – 12 months with average follow up of 8 months.Results: A total of 7 patients were operated for spontaneous CSF rhinorrhoea between Jan 1996-Dec 07. Four (57%) were females and three (43%) were males. Age range was 6 years to 47 years with mean age of 35.8 years. Duration of fistula ranged from 3 months to 216 months .Two patients had one episode of meningitis. All the patients had CT scan brain with CT cisternography whereas additional MRI was done in 3 patients. Thin cuts coronal CT with CT cisternography picked the lesions in all the patients. All the patients had congenital dehiscence of cribriform plate. All the patients had transcranial repair of CSF fistula. No patient had post-operative CSF leak. Conclusion: All patients in this study group had congenital dehiscence of cribriform plate. CT cisternography with thin cut coronal CT is good diagnostic tool in CSF rhinorrhoea. Early diagnosis and management is mandatory to avoid meningitis

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