Thirty cases of anterior encephalocele treated in our centre over an 18-year period (from 1973 to 1990) are presented. At the time of surgery over 60% of the patients were under the age of 2 years, and 40% were aged under 1 year. Only one child was over 10 years of age. Twenty-six patients had the fronto-ethmoidal type of defect, while two each had frontonasal- and naso-orbital-type lesions. Twenty-five children had varying degrees of hypertelorism. Four had an enlarged head and four microcephaly. In 26 patients one-stage repair of the encephalocele and reconstruction of the orbits was undertaken. A ventriculoperitoneal shunt was performed prior to definitive surgery in three patients with gross hydrocephalus. There was no postoperative mortality. Six patients had postoperative CSF rhinorrhoea, three of them requiring a lumboperitoneal shunt. This study highlights the role of one-stage repair of this defect.

No abstract

No abstract

This presentation deals with our experience of surgery on 8 patients with fronto-ethmoidal meningocoele. 7 of these patients had an intracranial repair of the meningocoele, coupled with or followed by an orbital osteotomy, to correct the associated hypertelorism. We feel that an orbital osteotomy done at the time of meningocoele repair improves the results of surgery, without adding to its risk. The osteotomy practised by the authors includes resection of a central wedge of bone and a medial shift of the roof and medial wall of the orbit.

Nine cases of central salivary gland tumors of the jaws were seen during the period 1962‐1968. Four patients were in the sixth decade; they all presented with swelling of one of the jaws. Pain was unusual. X‐ray of the mandible revealed either a diffuse rarefaction or a multiloculated cystic appearance. Four patients had a cylindroma, 3 had mucoepidermoid carcinoma, and 2 had an adenocarcinoma. Four patients had been treated earlier by local excision or radiotherapy, and, in each case, further progress of disease was slow. However, the overall cure rate has been low, as has been described in the literature. These tumors have a clinical course which is distinct from the course of other common jaw tumors, viz. adamantinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Because of this and their frequency they merit a separate identity in the classification of jaw tumors.