Retrograde intraventricular hemorrhage caused by a traumatic sacral pseudomeningocele in the presence of spina bifida occulta

Abstract

✓ The authors present the case of a large, posttraumatic sacral pseudomeningocele in the presence of spina bifida occulta. A pseudomeningocele in the sacral region is associated with trauma and with Marfan syndrome, but only one occurrence has been reported in association with spinal dysraphism. Trauma resulted in bleeding into the pseudomeningocele and retrograde passage of blood and fat into the ventricles. An oculomotor nerve palsy subsequently developed in the patient. The authors suspected a subarachnoid hemorrhage caused by a posterior communicating artery aneurysm, although this hypothesis was refuted on further investigation. The pseudomeningocele was drained by direct exposure of the neck and opening of the sac. Postoperatively, communicating hydrocephalus developed and the patient underwent ventriculoperitoneal shunt placement, resulting in resolution of the cranial nerve palsies. This first report of intradural bleeding from direct trauma to a pseudomeningocele illustrates the rare phenomenon of retrograde passage of blood from the sacral region to the brain. It also illustrates a possible but unlikely differential diagnosis of intraventricular blood and fat.