CEREBROSPINAL RHINORRHEA: REPORT OF A CASE WITH A HISTORY OF EIGHTEEN YEARS' DURATION

Abstract

Of the avenues through which, under certain conditions, the cerebrospinal fluid may be made to escape, the nose causes by far the most serious results. Escape of the fluid through this organ is usually fatal because of the terminal meningitis that is apt to result. In a recent paper,¹ Eagleton reported two series of cases of cerebrospinal rhinorrhea. The first series was caused by an ingrowth of a portion of the mucous membrane, and the other series by fracture due to violence, such as blows or a fall on the head. Cushing stated the belief that when the condition is caused by the ingrowth of the nasal mucous membrane into the arachnoid and cerebral tissue, a defect in the involved structure existed long before the mucosa, through some break in its continuity, had crept into the defect. Albert E. Bulson, Jr., reported a case in which cerebrospinal rhinorrhea made