Ninety-seven children with lipomyelomeningoceles were operated on at the Hospital for Sick Children between January, 1960, and December, 1982. The most common factor that caused these patients to seek help was the cosmetic effect of the mass on their back. However, 22 patients had urinary incontinence and 15 patients had a deformed or weak leg. Sixty of the 97 patients were female and 37 were male. The patients presented for treatment between 6 days and 18 1/2 years of age with a median age of 7 1/2 months. Fifty-six patients presented before the age of 6 months and 35 of these were perfectly normal at the time of presentation. On the other hand, of the 41 patients who were brought for treatment after the age of 6 months, only 12 were normal prior to surgery. When patients were appropriately treated at an early age, with their spinal cords untethered and their dura securely closed with a dural graft, then they remained unchanged neurologically or even improved. However, when treatment was delayed or not done appropriately then they were left with significant neurological sequelae. Lipomyelomeningoceles are serious lesions which without appropriate therapy can result in gross impairment of neurological function.
This study reevaluates a surgical technique known as the Chula technique, previously reported in 1991 for correction of frontoethmoidal encephalomeningocele. From 1986 to 1999, 108 patients were operated on with this technique, which could remove the herniation mass, repair dural and bone defects, reconstruct the naso-orbital area, and restore aesthetic facial appearance in a single stage. Formal frontal craniotomy was not necessary. The result has been very satisfying in terms of safety, cure rate, and aesthetic outcome. Spontaneous improvement of lacrimal passage obstruction occurred in 85.2 percent of cases, and dacryocystorhinostomy was required in the rest. There was no mortality. Complications (e.g., wound infection, 6.5 percent; wire extrusion, 3.7 percent; meningitis, 2.8 percent; cerebrospinal fluid leakage, 2.8 percent; and postoperative increased intracranial pressure, 2.8 percent) were much less frequent than in other reports. With a mean follow-up period of 439 days (maximum, 12 years), there has been no recurrence.
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