Overall, cerebrospinal fluid leaks have great healing rates with conservative care techniques, while cranial leaks also have good healing rates, but may require more hands-on intervention. If that also fails, or if you have an underlying condition like hydrocephalus, the insertion of shunts or other hardware may be necessary to close off the leak. This involves injecting the patient’s own blood into the area, which will then clot and seal the leak. This can usually be achieved with an epidural blood patch. For leaks that don’t respond to rest, a more hands-on approach may be necessary. The good news is that many leaks heal on their own with bed rest and time, as this allows the body to naturally close off the hole.

Once the location and the underlying cause of the leak has been deduced, a treatment plan can begin to form. Dural tear and spinal fluid leak 1 Nerve or Spinal Cord Injury Any time surgery is done on the spine, there is some risk of injuring the spinal cord or the individual nerves. This can be achieved with a CT scan, an MRI, or lesser known tests like myelography or a cisternogram. Cerebrospinal fluid leaks arent just something discussed in a medical textbook, they affect people and their lives. If a CSF leak is suspected, imaging testing will be ordered in order to find the precise location of the leak. Your provider will also talk about what causes symptoms to increase or decrease. Diagnosis and Treatmentĭiagnosing a CSF leak will begin with a physical examine and a conversation about your symptoms and medical history. Patients with hydrocephalus, a condition that causes abnormal overproduction of cerebrospinal fluid, are also at an elevated risk for developing a leak.Īs you can see, these symptoms aren’t all that unique, so it’s not always easy to detect if you’re dealing with a CSF leak without a comprehensive diagnosis. Some diagnosable causes of CSF leaks include head or spine trauma, complications following a surgery in the area, failure to clot after a lumbar puncture procedure or the development of a tumor. Causes and SymptomsĬerebrospinal fluid leaks can develop for reasons unknown, or there can be a direct cause. Below, we take a closer look at the causes, symptoms and treatment options for cerebrospinal fluid leaks. Neuhaus and Baylis reported 2 cases of CSF leaks during external DCRs that were successfully managed with bed rest. Leaks can develop for a number of different reasons, some of which are harder to diagnose than others, but once you understand where the leak is and what caused it, treatment is usually very successful. Introduction The incidence of dural tears and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) fistulas after anterior cervical diskectomy or corpectomy with fusion (ACDF or ACCF) for cervical myelopathy due to various pathologies varies from 0.5 to 8.4 1, 2, 3, 4. A cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak is a medical condition categorized by a tear or opening in the membranes that surround the brain or spinal cord, which allows the clear fluid that surrounds these body parts to escape. Cerebrospinal fluid leakage Ossified posterior longitudinal ligaments 1.

Spinal fluid leak during back surgery