Preservation of frontal sinus anatomy and outflow tract following frontal trauma with dural defect

Our case report describes a young male mechanic who was hit in his face by a spring while repairing a car, resulting in traumatic injury to the frontal sinus, with fractures of both the anterior and the posterior tables with dural defect and cerebrospinal fluid leak. Current guidelines recommend that comminuted and/or displaced fractures of the posterior table of the frontal sinus with dural defects should be either cranialized or obliterated. In this patient, instead of cranializing or obliterating the frontal sinus, we managed to preserve the frontal sinus anatomy and its outflow tract using a combined open bicoronal and nasoendoscopic approach. This avoids the long-term complications associated with cranialization or obliteration including mucocele formation and frontocutaneous fistula.