title: Surgical treatment of traumatic injuries of the cranial base.
abstract: Skull-base fractures involve one or more of the cribriform plate of the ethmoid bone, orbital plate of the frontal bone, sphenoid bone, occipital bone, and petrous or temporal bone. Although the fractures themselves only require reduction and reconstruction when the skull base is severely comminuted and altered, even small fractures and the traumatic shear forces can create tears in the meninges and thus predispose to cerebrospinal fluid leaks. This article explores the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative management of skull-base fractures, which most commonly involves resolution of the cerebrospinal fluid leak and the prevention of future leaks or meningoencephaloceles.
authors.affiliation: Division of Head and Neck Oncology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 243 Charles Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA. Electronic address: Derrick_Lin@meei.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Derrick T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Alice C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D065634:Cerebrospinal Fluid Leak; D002559:Cerebrospinal Fluid Rhinorrhea / Q000175:diagnosis; D004724:Endoscopy; D018460:Fractures, Comminuted / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D019291:Skull Base / Q000293:injuries*; D020205:Skull Fracture, Basilar / Q000601:surgery; D012887:Skull Fractures / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods; D014168:Transferrin / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D014168:Transferrin
keywords: Basilar skull fractures; CSF leak; Craniofacial trauma; Skull base fractures; Skull base trauma; Surgical treatment of skull fractures