The surgical treatment of temporal bone encephalocele in elderly patients

Abstract

We report the cases of two elderly patients who received surgical treatment for temporal bone encephalocele. One, an 81-year-old woman, was an iatrogenic case, which occurred 38 years after canal wall down mastoidectomy. The other, a 79-year-old man, was an idiopathic case. In both cases, surgery was performed via a middle cranial fossa approach. When performing surgery to treat temporal bone encephalocele, the approach should be selected based on the features of the case. The possible approaches include : the transmastoid approach, the middle cranial fossa approach, a combination of both, and mastoid obliteration. Because temporal bone encephalocele may result in a potentially life-threatening central nervous system infection, a timely diagnosis and surgical repair are vital, even in elderly patients.