Endoscopic Endonasal Approach of Congenital Meningoencephalocele Surgery: First Reported Case in Lithuania

Abstract

Meningoencephalocele is a rare condition that usually occurs in children and is treated by neurosurgeons with occasional help from ENT doctors. The symptoms of meningoencephalocele might not develop until adulthood, but usually they are apparent immediately after birth. The case of small anterior basal transethmoidal meningoencephalocele in a 24-year-old patient who had headaches and runny nose since childhood is presented. Endonasal endoscopic approach for meningoencephalocele removal and skull base defect reconstruction was used. It was concluded that endoscopic endonasal approach is less invasive and provides an acceptable operative outcome with short recovery time and less postoperative complications in comparison with other external microsurgical approaches.

Endoscopic endonasal resection of a nasal meningoencephalocele - Case report

“…The main forms of MEC are congenital and posttraumatic, but other forms, like spontaneous or iatrogenic, have been described in literature [4][5][6][7] . Related to their location, nasal MEC can be divided into basal and frontoethmoidal types, while the basal type can be furthermore classified into transethmoidal, sphenoethmoidal, transsphenoidal and frontosphenoidal [2][3][4] . Clinical presentation of nasal MEC can vary due to their size and location.…”

“…In many cases, common symptoms are nasal obstruction, headaches and CSF leaks. In some cases, recurrent meningitis and some neurological symptoms have been reported, but this is not the usual presentation 4,7 . Diagnosis of MEC can be made through imaging studies, nasal endoscopy and biochemistry of nasal discharge, when discharge is a symptom 5 .…”