Cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhoea revealing an unusual ethmoido-sphenoidal foreign body.

INTRODUCTION

Foreign bodies in the transnasal ethmoido-sphenoidal sinus are uncommon. We present a case of unilateral rhinorrhoea caused by a foreign body which had been lodged in the ethmoido-sphenoidal sinus for 38 years.

CASE REPORT: A 40-year-old woman presented with unilateral rhinorrhoea. Computed tomography showed a foreign body located in the right ethmoido-sphenoidal sinus, with a defect of the lamina papyracea and the ethmoid roof. The endonasal approach did not permit extraction of the foreign body. A combined approach allowed the extraction of a pen cap, and the defect of the ethmoid roof was rebuilt.

CONCLUSION

Despite its limitations, the endonasal approach remains the treatment of first choice for osteo-meningeal defects, because of its minimal invasiveness and high success rate. However, in the presented case a combined approach was needed.