[Results of transcranial and subcranial management of fractures of the naso-ethmoid-orbital system in complex midfacial fractures].

Injuries of the nasoethmoid-orbital (NEO) region are associated with midfacial fractures or fractures of the frontobase in over 90% of all cases. In up to 70% fractures of the skull base run through the roof of the ethmoidal bone or the lamina cribrosa. There are different surgical approaches for the treatment of these complex fractures. Between 1990 and 1997 50 patients with midfacial fractures in association with NEO fractures were treated in the Klinik für Mund-, Kiefer- und Gesichtschirurgie, Kantonsspital Luzern, Switzerland. Of these, 25 had suffered midfacial fractures combined with fractures of the nasoethmoid-orbital and frontobasal region and were treated via a transcranial approach. The other 25 patients with midfacial and NEO fractures without involvement of the frontobasis were managed by subcranial incisions. A total of 47 patients were followed up for up to 4 years. The results were reevaluated retrospectively. There was no case of secondary liquorrhea, intracranial or ethmoidal infection. Our therapeutic concept of transcranial and subcranial management of NEO fractures in combination with frontobasal and midfacial fractures is demonstrated.