Post-traumatic meningoencephalocele as a complication after head trauma and surgery: literature review focusing on the relevance of patient’s history and radiological follow-up

Abstract

Abstract Background Meningoencephalocele (ME) is an herniation of brain parenchyma covered by meninges through a bone defect and could be malformative or secondary. Except for rarer cases of spontaneous form, ME is usually due to endonasal or otologic infections and rarely after head trauma. In predisposed patients, even mild head trauma can lead to the formation of a ME. Methods We performed a systematic review of literature with the aims to identify the clinical characteristics of all reported forms of post-traumatic ME and the best diagnostic and treatment strategy. We illustrated a case of a patient treated for a post-traumatic subdural hematoma who developed cerebrospinal fluid leakage 3 months after the trauma. Results The search returned a total of 59 papers for the analysis, including radiological, clinical studies, technical note and the case reported from our experience. The total number of patients collected for this review was 61, with a mean age of 31.1 years. The diagnosis of ME could be heterogeneous in terms of timing and clinical onset after a head injury. Symptoms onset and subsequent radiological diagnosis of ME vary between 24 h to 43 years. The majority of traumas were reported in temporal site (52.45%). There were reported high variability of treatment strategies dependent on the location and extent of the defect: in the majority of cases (58%), duroplasty by the heterologous dural patch was the procedure of choice. There is a relative low rate of complications (6.5%) due to a delayed diagnosis of ME. Conclusions When ME is associated with violation of meninges, the clinical presentation may be that of cerebrospinal fluid otorrhoea or otorhinorrhoea, consequently, delay in diagnosis can lead to neurological complications. The clinical effectiveness of ME treatment depends much more on the correct and timely diagnosis than on the type of procedure selected.