Purpose: To overview the management of encephalocele and evaluate
the outcome in our institutions through a period of 5 years. Methods:
This is a retrospective study was performed on all infants that were
admitted and operated upon for encephalocele in department of
Neurosurgery of Benha University and Benha specialized children
hospitals in the last 5 years, from June 2016 to June 2021. Results:
This study had 58 infants with encephalocele were with age ranged
from 1 to 345 days with a mean age ±SD of 244 ±20 days. 6 types of
encephalocele according to location and shape were treated; 22
(37.9%) occipital, 12 (20.7%) atretic, 9 (15.5%) vault, 7 (12.1%)
occipito-cervical, 5 (8.6%) ethmoidal, and 3 (5.2%) double
encephaloceles. we classified encephaloceles into 3 sizes; small,
medium and large. We found that 20.7% of infants associated with
hydrocephalus. Only 5 deaths were reported and 3 of them were not
related to encephalocele and its management. Conclusions:
Management of encephalocele includes full investigations and proper
diagnosis for optimum surgical plan. Meticulous patient preparation, surgery, and good
postoperative care and follow up are mandatory for good outcome. Associated
hydrocephalus which was not significantly related to encephalocele type or size and
neurological & non-neurological conditions are common and should be taken in
consideration.
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