title: Fulminant meningitis after radiotherapy for clival chordoma.
abstract: The best treatment for clival chordoma is obtained with total surgical excision, sometimes combined with adjuvant radiotherapy. A cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) fistula is a fatal complication that may occur following extended transsphenoidal surgery (TSS) and adjuvant radiotherapy. We report a case of fulminant meningitis without a CSF fistula in a 57-year-old woman who underwent TSS and multiple radiotherapies for a clival chordoma. She presented to our emergency room with copious epistaxis and odor inside her nasal cavity and had an unexpected fatal outcome. She was diagnosed with meningitis based on CSF culture and blood culture. While treating clival chordomas with adjuvant radiotherapy, clinicians should be aware of the possibility of fulminant meningitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Eulji University Hospital, College of Medicine, Eulji University, Daejeon, Korea.
authors.forename: Seong Min
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Eulji University Hospital, College of Medicine, Eulji University, Daejeon, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyun Wook
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Eulji University Hospital, College of Medicine, Eulji University, Daejeon, Korea.
authors.forename: Moon Sun
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Eulji University Hospital, College of Medicine, Eulji University, Daejeon, Korea.
authors.forename: Seung Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Eulji University Hospital, College of Medicine, Eulji University, Daejeon, Korea.
authors.forename: Ki Seok
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Eulji University Hospital, College of Medicine, Eulji University, Daejeon, Korea.
authors.forename: Do Sung
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Eulji University Hospital, College of Medicine, Eulji University, Daejeon, Korea.
authors.forename: Jung Tae
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Oh
keywords: Chordoma; Meningitis; Radiotherapy