Endonasal endoscopic skull base multilayer reconstruction surgery with nasal pedicled mucosal flap to manage high flow CSF leakage.

AIM

Multilayer reconstruction of skull base using nasal pedicled mucosal flap has been widely accepted as a standard method for repairing high flow cerebrospinal fluid [CSF] leakage. In this study, we analyzed our outcome and summarized several valuable operation experiences from this technique.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

This study included 20 consecutive patients who underwent endoscopic endonasal multilayer reconstruction using a nasal pedicled mucosal flap to repair high flow CSF leakage and were available for follow-up.

RESULTS

In this series, all cases encountered intraoperative high-flow CSF leakage, including 11 (55%) patients with opening of third ventricles (TV) and 9 (45%) patients with wide opening of cistern (CS). After endoscopic endonasal multilayer reconstruction with nasal pedicled mucosal flap, 3 patients (15.0%) encountered CSF leakage in the early postoperative period but were successfully repaired; 2 patients (10.0%) encountered late postoperative CSF leakage. In the TV group, the ratio of CSF leakage was 18.2% (2/11); while the incidence of CSF leakage was 11.1% (1/9) in the CS group. One patient developed meningitis due to CSF leakage four month after surgery, then gave up treatment and died.

CONCLUSION

Multilayer reconstruction with nasal pedicled flap seems to be useful and reliable for the treatment of ventral skull base defects using endoscopic endonasal approach.