Sandwich wound closure reduces the risk of cerebrospinal fluid leaks in posterior fossa surgery

Abstract

Posterior fossa surgery is demanding and hides a significant number of obstacles starting from the approach to the wound closure. The risk of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage in posterior fossa surgery given in the literature is around 8%. The present study aims to introduce a sandwich closure of the dura in posterior fossa surgery, which reduces significantly the number of CSF leaks (3.8%) in the patients treated in our department. Three hundred and ten patients treated in our hospital in the years 2009-2013 for posterior fossa pathologies were retrospectively evaluated. The dura closure method was as following: lyophilized dura put under the dura and sealed with fibrin glue and sutures, dura adapting stitches, TachoSil® (Takeda Pharma A/S, Roskilde, Denmark), Gelfoam® (Pfizer Inc., New York, NY, USA) and polymethylmethacrylate (osteoclastic craniotomy). The incidence of postsurgical complications associated with the dural closure like CSF leakage, infections, bleeding is evaluated. Only 3.8% of patients developed CSF leakage and only 0.5% needed a second surgery for CSF leakage closure. Two percent had a cerebellar bleeding with no need for re-operation and 3% had a wound infection treated with antibiotics. The sandwich wound closure we are applying for posterior fossa surgery in our patients correlates with a significant reduction of CSF leaks compared to the literature.