The patient was a 33-year-old male who had never had any nasal disease. He first noticed visual disturbances in his left eye nine months prior to admission. Examination revealed left optic nerve atrophy, right choked disk, and left anosmia. Plain X-rays and tomograms of the skull showed opacification in the left ethmoid sinus and destruction of the roof of the ethmoid. CT scan demonstrated a low density area in the anterior cranial fossa.
A left external ethmoidectomy showed the presence of a ethmoid mucocele extending to the anterior cranial fossa. After the mucoid material of approximately 100ml was aspirated, the dura became widely exposed. Eight months later his left middle nasal meatus was widely open, and the pulsation of the dura was still seen in the meatus. The postoperative course, however, exhibited no complicalion.
