Late presentation of dural tears:Two case reports and review of literature

BACKGROUND The late presentation of dural tears(LPDT)has a low incidence rate and hidden symptoms and is easily ignored in clinical practice.If the disease is not treated in time,a series of complications may occur,including low intracranial pressure headache,infection,pseudodural cyst formation,and sinus formation.Here,we describe two cases of LPDT.CASE SUMMARY Two patients had sudden fever 1 wk after lumbar surgery.Physical examination showed obvious tenderness in the operation area.The patients were confirmed as having LPDT by lumbar magnetic resonance imaging and surgical exploration.One case was caused by continuous negative pressure suction and malnutrition,and the other was caused by decreased dural ductility and low postoperative nutritional status.The first symptom of both patients was fever,with occasional headache.Both patients underwent secondary surgery to treat the LPDT.Dural defects were observed and dural sealants were used to seal the dural defects,then drainage tubes were retained for drainage.After the operation,the patients were treated with antibiotics and the patients’surgical incisions healed well,without fever or incision tenderness.Both recovered and were discharged 1 wk after the operation.CONCLUSION LPDT is a rare complication of spinal surgery or neurosurgery that has hidden symptoms and can easily be overlooked.Since it may cause a series of complic-ations,LPDT needs to be actively addressed in clinical practice.

Anticipation of Dural Tear in Patients with Blunt Head Trauma

Background: Dural tears are considered among the neurosurgical challenges to be dealt with during management of head trauma patients;it’s important to anticipate such pathology pre-operatively;the purpose of this study is to discuss and analyze various predictors of dural tear as a sequala of blunt head trauma. Methods: Patients with blunt head trauma who underwent surgery during the year 2020 were analyzed;operative data were reviewed;only patients with reported dural repair as a step during surgery were included. Patients with penetrating head injury were excluded. Preoperative radiology, epidemiological and clinical details were analyzed to conclude specific criteria for dural tear. Results: Twenty-three patients were involved in the study;male predominance was evident. The most common primary injury was depressed fracture (73.9%), while the most common mode of trauma was domestic injury (43.5%), especially in pediatric group (76.9%). Two cases of growing skull fracture were involved, and both were in pediatric group. CT findings were conclusive for immediate dural tear findings, however, suggestive for patients with growing skull fractures. Mean depth of depression for depressed fracture group was 15.07 mm. Conclusion: Dural tears are not a serious complication of head trauma, however, their sequalae are life-threatening. Anticipation of dural tear is feasible radiologically pre-operatively for immediate dural repair and craniotomy fashioning;for cases of growing skull fractures, it’s difficult to anticipate the course from time of impact till time of presentation.

Surgical Repair of Growing Skull Fracture: A Case Report

Background: Growing skull fractures (GSF) are a rare complication of pediatric head trauma that comprises post-traumatic skull defect associated with an underlying dural tear and an intact arachnoid membrane. They are often misdiagnosed, and delay in management can lead to progression of the disease with neurological sequelae. GSF are rare and their incidence has been estimated as 0.05% - 1% of all pediatric skull fractures. This low incidence and the subtlety of its presentation often make diagnosis challenging with consequent delay in management. Surgery is recommended to treat GSF and involved dural repair with or without cranioplasty. In this paper, we report a case of a patient with GSF in whom the surgical repair was successful with good cosmetic and functional outcome. Case Report: A 12 months old girl was admitted to our neurosurgical department with right parietal swelling that had been gradually enlarging over 3 months. The history of the disease began when the girl was 1 month old with a fall with cranial impact resulting in head trauma with initial loss of consciousness. At presentation the girl was alert with normal consciousness. Clinical examination revealed the deformed skull with large pulsatile and painless swelling lesion in the right parietal region and hemiparesis on the left side. The CT scan revealed type 3 GSF including parietal bone diastasis with hypodense fluid collection that mimicked the leptomeningeal and porencephalic cyst. Surgical repair was performed. The post-operative course was uneventful and the child was discharged home five days after surgical intervention. Conclusion: GSF can lead to serious neurologic complications. Therefore educating parents on this potential outcome and close follow-up with clinical and imaging screening is recommended to screen children at risk for the development of the disease.