REPAIR OF DEFECTS IN ETHMOID AND FRONTAL SINUSES RESULTING IN CEREBROSPINAL RHINORRHEA

THE PURPOSE of this contribution is to call attention to the etiologic factors responsible for the spontaneous development of cerebrospinal rhinorrhea and the methods employed in closing defects in the cribriform plate of the ethmoid bone which were congenital in origin or the result of bullet wounds and to review the results of our surgical experiences in treating cerebrospinal rhinorrhea.

CAUSATION  Cerebrospinal rhinorrhea may result from a number of causes, the most common of which is skull fracture that extends through the posterior wall of the frontal sinus (fig. 1) or the cribriform plate of the ethmoid bone, with accompanying tears of the dura and arachnoid.¹ The first evidence of rhinorrhea associated with fracture of the skull is the occurrence of a watery, bloody discharge from the nose. In most instances, in our experience, the lesions heal, with spontaneous remission of the rhinorrhea. Persistent rhinorrhea or its delayed occurrence