Kedilaya Sumana, Gupta Niharika, Krishnamurthy Hejjaji Anand, Raju P Arjun, Haldipur Deepak
Radiology, Tenet Diagnostics, Bangalore, IND.
Ear, Nose, and Throat, Trustwell Hospitals, Bangalore, IND.
Cureus. 2025 Apr 27;17(4):e83064. doi: 10.7759/cureus.83064. eCollection 2025 Apr.
Tension pneumocephalus is a life-threatening situation in neurosurgery. It can occur due to various causes, such as trauma, complications of neurosurgery or sinus surgery, and also in conditions where there is a CSF leak. We present an unusual case of a 53-year-old woman who came with complaints of severe headache and CSF rhinorrhea. On radiologic evaluation, tension pneumocephalus was noted as a result of sphenoid encephalocele. Sphenoidal encephaloceles are herniations of brain parenchyma, meninges, and CSF through a defect in the sphenoid bone. It typically presents as CSF rhinorrhea. Rarely, tension pneumocephalus can occur in the form of a severe headache. The recognition of clinical and radiologic features can help in making an accurate diagnosis of this rare condition at the earliest.
张力性气颅是神经外科中一种危及生命的情况。它可由多种原因引起，如外伤、神经外科手术或鼻窦手术的并发症，也可发生在脑脊液漏的情况下。我们报告一例不寻常的病例，一名53岁女性因严重头痛和脑脊液鼻漏前来就诊。经影像学评估，发现蝶骨脑膨出导致了张力性气颅。蝶骨脑膨出是脑实质、脑膜和脑脊液通过蝶骨缺损处的疝出。它通常表现为脑脊液鼻漏。很少见的是，张力性气颅可表现为严重头痛。认识临床和影像学特征有助于尽早准确诊断这种罕见疾病。
