Runny nose is one of the common symptoms of nasal diseases. It can flow out through the anterior nostrils or into the nasopharynx from the back. It is the nature and quantity of nasal secretions caused by lesions in the nasal cavity. Altered, escaping nasal secretions, known as snot. Generally, a runny nose is a common symptom and does not attract people’s attention, but there is a kind of nasal discharge, but it must not be taken lightly.
CSF rhinorrhea is the “snot” that flows from the cerebrospinal fluid through the base of the skull (anterior, middle or posterior fossa) or other bone defects or ruptures, through the nasal cavity, and eventually out of the body. However, cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea is not the same as a real “runny nose”, which is mainly characterized by intermittent or continuous flow of clear, watery fluid from the nasal cavity, but without the viscosity of nasal mucus, which can help patients make a preliminary distinction.
The main etiology of CSF rhinorrhea involves many aspects, of which more than 90% are traumatic CSF leakage, and traumatic CSF rhinorrhea is further divided into traumatic CSF due to traffic accident injuries. Rhinorrhea and iatrogenic cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea are two types. A small part is spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea, which can be further divided into congenital cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea that mostly occurs near the cribriform plate and ethmoid sinus roof, spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea of unknown etiology, and sinus, skull base tumors or direct purulent inflammation. Or indirectly caused cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea.
The variety of etiologies leads to different clinical manifestations in patients with different etiologies. Common manifestations include indirect or continuous discharge of clear and watery fluid from the nasal cavity, and some patients have hyposmia or disappearance. A small number of patients develop recurrent purulent meningitis (with symptoms such as fever, headache, nausea and vomiting). In traumatic cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea, bloody fluid may flow out of the nostril at the same time, and the center of the trace is red and the periphery is clear, or the colorless liquid flowing out of the nostril is not scab-like after drying. However, the symptoms of cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea should be noted that the symptoms of cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea should be differentiated from the submucosal cyst of the sinuses with yellow clear liquid and allergic rhinitis with watery rhinorrhea.
If the symptoms of cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea are not healed for a long time, it is easy to cause retrograde infection, cause meningitis, and cause patients to have obvious headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, fever, coma etc., even life-threatening. Not only that, long-term cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea will also have a certain impact on the patient’s general health. Some patients may experience symptoms such as dyspnea, lethargy, loss of appetite and other symptoms. The most serious ones may also induce low intracranial pressure and intracranial pressure. Complications such as infection occur, which shows the seriousness of the disease.
However, there are also effective measures to relieve and treat cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea. At present, two methods of surgical treatment and conservative treatment can be used to treat cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea. Conservative treatment is suitable for short onset time, rhinorrhea For milder patients, bed rest, keeping the nasal cavity clean, improving living habits, applying antibiotics, and lumbar puncture and drainage are generally used to reduce intracranial pressure and promote leak healing. Surgical treatment is suitable for patients with severe cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea. The purpose of healing is achieved by repairing the leak. Common surgical methods include transcranial cerebrospinal fluid leak repair surgery and endoscopic transnasal cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea repair. It has obvious advantages in reducing surgical trauma and improving the success rate. The specific surgical method to be selected should be comprehensively evaluated by a professional doctor according to factors such as the location of rhinorrhea, the size of the skull base and the size of the meningeal injury.
Expert Tip: Once symptoms related to cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea are found, be sure to find an experienced professional doctor for diagnosis and treatment, using nasal endoscopy, imaging examination, glucose oxidase detection, local fluorescence Comprehensive inspections such as vegetarian methods and laboratory tests to ensure good health!