Diagnosis and treatment of cerebrospinal fluid leakage / 中华创伤杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate standard diagnosis and treatment of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage to improve the prognosis of the patients. Methods A retrospective study was done on 75 patients with CSF leakage from January 2004 to March 2007 in our hospital. There were 51 patients with rhinorrhea, nine with otorrhea and 15 with wound/incision leakage. Of all, 39 patients had traumatic leakage, 32 postoperative leakage and four spontaneous leakage. In the study, 23 patients were cured by position testing and drug therapy and 16 by cerebrospinal fluid drainage and/or wound debridement but 36 were treated with surgeries including craniotomy repair in 17, extracranial repair in 17 and CSF shunt in five (three received CSF shunt after repair). Results Of all, 64 patients were cured, 10 gained im-provement but one died. Conclusion Standard diagnosis and treatment of CSF leakage helps improve cure rate and reduce complications.