Extensive Pneumocephalus Secondary to Petrous Bone Cholesteatoma

Pneumocephalus refers to air inside the cranium; however, otogenic pneumocephalus is rarely reported in the literature. The neurological presentations of pneumocephalus include headache, lethargy, confusion, disorientation, and seizure. Here, we have reported a case of a 42-year-old woman with extensive pneumocephalus and cerebrospinal fluid leak secondary to petrous bone cholesteatoma. She presented to the emergency department with sudden headache and left ear discharge. Physical examination revealed watery otorrhea through a hole in the tympanic membrane. Radiological studies demonstrated extensive soft tissue in the left middle ear and mastoid extending to the internal auditory canal. Free intracranial air was observed, and bony destruction was seen in the cochlea, vestibule, and semicircular canals. The patient was managed surgically via the transotic approach and fully recovered. Although otogenic pneumocephalus is rarely encountered in clinical practice, early diagnosis and urgent management are important to prevent fatal complications.

Infralabyrinthine petrous bone cholesteatoma (literature review)

A literature review on the infralabyrinthine petrous bone cholesteatoma (PBC) was presented in this article. Attention is paid to etiology and clinical symptoms of the disease, classifications. All modern classifications divide cholesteatoma with localization under the labyrinth into two big groups: infralabyrinthine and infralabyrinthine apical. This is not enough to determine the algorithm of surgical tactic of these patients. The most used approaches to the infrlabyrinyhine area and lateral skull base were analyzed (infralabyrinthine and infracochlear, subtotal petrosectomy, transotic approach, group of transcochlear approaches, infratemporal and translabyrinthine approaches). Possible variants of the surgery ending are described (tympanoplasty or “cul-de-sac” closure). Comparison of the results of different authors, starting from 1990, in which the infralabyrinthine cholesteatoma was distinguished as a separate class was carried out. 16 publications were analyzed based on the type of used classification, the total number of cases with infralabyrinthine cholesteatoma, the type of surgical approach, the complications and recurrence rate. The total number of patients was 141, 84 with infralabyrinthine (59,6%), 57 (40,4%) with infralabyrinthine apical PBC. The most common type of surgery were subtotal petrosectomy, transcochlear approach in different variations and transotic approach. The recurrence rate ranged from 0 to 29%. This paper identifies unresolved issues, the necessity of new classification and algorithm of surgical management based on it.

Posterior Petrosal Transotic Approach for Cerebellopontine Angle Hemangioblastoma: Technical Case Report

BACKGROUND AND IMPORTANCE Although posterior petrosal approaches are utilized less frequently in many practices today, they continue to provide distinct surgical advantages in carefully selected cases. Here, we report a case of a recurrent cerebellopontine angle (CPA) hemangioblastoma that had failed a prior, more conservative, surgical approach. We provide cadaveric dissections of variations of posterior petrosal approaches to illustrate the advantages of the selected approach. CLINICAL PRESENTATION A 70-yr-old female presented with a growing left CPA hemangioblastoma. The lesion had undergone a prior subtotal resection from a retrosigmoid approach and subsequent adjuvant radiation treatment. The patient had worsening left facial strength, progressive balance difficulty, and absent left auditory function. Preoperative angiogram demonstrated arterial blood supply from the left anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA) that was deemed unsafe for embolization due to significant arteriovenous shunting. A posterior petrosal transotic approach was performed in order to optimize the working angle to the anterior brainstem and afford the ability to occlude the vascular supply from AICA prior to surgical resection of the lesion. CONCLUSION The posterior petrosal transotic approach offers an improved surgical working angle to the anterior brainstem compared to the translabyrinthine approach. This advantage can be particularly important with vascular tumors that receive blood supply anteriorly, as in this case from AICA, and can improve the safety of the resection.