Epidemiology of Anterior and Lateral Basilar Skull Fractures With CSF Leak: A National Trauma Data Bank Analysis

Objective: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks are a complication from dural violations that can occur in the setting of skull base fractures. No prior study provides a nationwide epidemiological analysis of traumatic CSF leaks. The objective of this report is to characterize patient demographics, injury-related variables, and operative management.

Methods: The national trauma data bank was queried for both anterior and lateral skull base fracture cases between 2008 and 2016. Clinical data were extracted.

Results: A total of 242 skull base fractures with CSF leak were identified. Most patients were male (84.3%), and the median patient age was 39.7±17.6 years old. Glasgow Coma Scale was 14.0 [interquartile range (IQR): 6.5-10.6] for lateral fractures, 13.0 (IQR: 3.0-10.0) for anterior fractures, and severe range for combined fractures at 7.0 (IQR: 5.0-9.0) (analysis of variance, P =0.122). Common mechanisms of injury were motor vehicle accidents (107, 44.2%), followed by falls and firearms (65, 26.9% and 20, 8.3%, respectively). The median length of stay was 2 weeks, with a median of 14 days (IQR: 10-25) for the anterior fractures and 10 days (IQR 5-19) among the lateral fractures ( P =0.592). Patients were most commonly discharged home in both the anterior (43.8%) and lateral (49.2%) groups.

Conclusions: The prototypical patient tends to be a young adult male presenting with moderate-to-severe range neurological dysfunction after a vehicular accident. The overall prognosis of skull base fractures with CSF leak remains encouraging, with nearly half of these patients being discharged home within 2 weeks.