Surgical Nuances to Reduce and Manage Cerebrospinal Fluid Leaks after Microvascular Decompression

No dural substitute has proven to be complication-free in a large clinical trial, even suggesting some benefit during watertight closure. However, primary dural closure is not always possible due to dural shrinkage from electrocautery for dural bleeding.

This study is performed to analyze the clinical outcomes related to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage after microvascular decompression (MVD) using a simple surgical technique.

Three hundred and sixty consecutive cases were treated with MVD and followed up for more than one month after surgery. Bleeding from the cut veins during dural incision was controlled by pulling stay sutures instead of electrocautery to avoid dural shrinkage. Additionally, a wet cottonoid was placed on the cerebellar side dural flap to prevent dural dehydration. During dural closure, primary dural closure was always attempted. If not possible, a "plugging muscle" method was used for watertight dural closure.

The mean age was 54.1 ± 10.8 years (range, 24-85 years), and 238 (66.1%) were female. Primary MVD was performed in 345 (95.8%) patients. The mean operation time (from skin incision to skin closure) was 96.7 ± 33.0 min (range, 38-301 min). Primary dural closure was possible in 344 (95.6%) patients. The "plugging muscle method" was performed more frequently in patients older than 60 years (8 of 99 cases, 8.08%) than in younger cases (8 of 261 cases, 3.07%) (p = 0.039; chi-squared test). After surgery, 5 (1.4%) patients were treated for middle ear effusion, and another 5 (1.4%) patients experienced transient CSF rhinorrhea, which was spontaneously resolved within 1 to 7 days. No patients required additional treatments for CSF leakage.

A simple technique using pulling stay sutures to stop bleeding from the dural edges and placing a wet cottonoid on the exposed dura can make primary dural closure easier.