Endoscopic surgery for congenital basal meningoencephaloceles in children

Abstract

Conclusions Endoscopic surgery is safe and effective for children with congenital basal meningoencephaloceles (CBMs); it provides an acceptable operative outcome with a short recovery time and fewer complications and may be considered as a primary approach. Objectives To explore the safety and effectiveness of using transnasal or transoral endoscopic surgery on children with CBMs. Methods The clinical data of eight CBMs children who underwent transnasal or transoral endoscopic surgery in a hospital from January 2011 to January 2015 were collected. The presenting symptoms, lesion locations, surgical outcomes, and complications were examined retrospectively. Results Of the eight children, five (62.5%) patients were male, and their ages ranged from 1 year and 6 months to 14 years (median of 9 years). Six patients presented with the transethmoidal sub-type, and two presented with the transsphenoidal sub-type. The average hospital stay of all patients was 8.6 ± 2.6 days. There were neither intra-operative nor post-operative complications observed in any of the cases during the follow-ups that occurred between 6–54 months (mean of 15.5 months).

Keywords:

• Endoscopic surgery
• children
• congenital basal meningoencephaloceles
• skull base reconstruction
• cerebrospinal fluid leakage

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Funding information

This study was supported by the Clinical Scientific Research Foundation of the Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Grant No. 2014 L04; this study was also supported, in part, by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), Grant No. 81300819.