Reasons for failure of surgical treatment of patients with congenital basal encephaloceles

Encephalocele or craniocerebral hernia is a disease in which there is a prolapse of the meninges and structures of the brain through a skull defect. Clinically, they are manifested by a violation of nasal breathing, deformation of the naso‑ethmoid region, and nasal liquorrhea. Various inflammatory complications (meningitis, meningoencephalitis, ventriculitis, brain abscess) can occur against the background of persistent hernia, while mortality is 8–10 %.

Basal encephalocele is a rare pathology that requires an integrated approach in a specialized hospital using high‑tech equipment. Therapeutic tactics and risks are determined individually based on the patient’s age, current symptoms, size of the nasal cavity, location and size of the skull base defect. In the absence of nasal liquorrhea, it is possible to delay surgical treatment in order to be able to use an autologous bone of the calvarium, to collect a larger periosteal flap, to perform the operation using a combined approach and to minimize surgical complications. With endonasal endoscopic access, it is necessary to separate the encephalocele from the surrounding tissues, completely remove the hernial sac and visualize the bone edges of the defect, and then perform its plastic closure.

Despite the fact that in most cases the existing methods of treatment are very effective, in a number of cases it is not possible to achieve the desired result. This article presents two rare clinical cases in which patients with basal encephalocele required reoperation for herniation and skull base defect repair.

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