Management of occipital encephalocele

ABSTRACT

The clinical records, hematological and radiological investigation and operative notes of five patients [four females and one male] operated on were done. All cases were full-term newborns with a weight ranging from 2.270 to 3.552 g. The patients' mothers mean ages were 24.4 years [19-32 years]. A surgical intervention was done for all cases, an elliptic skin incision surrounding the occipital encephalocele was made along a vertical axis. The ellipse was performed narrow enough to allow skin closure at the end of the procedure, but broad enough to resect the total of the encephalocele. Ventriculo-peritoneal shunt operation was done for three cases that had hydrocephalus, but the other two cases had no hydrocephalus and did not develop after the operation. All cases discharged without any neurological deficit