• Khaled M Krisht, Ilyas M Eli, Cheryl Ann Palmer, and Richard H Schmidt.
• Department of Neurological Surgery, Clinical Neurosciences Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
• World Neurosurg. 2015 Dec 1;84(6):2075.e7-12.

BackgroundPneumocephalus is a commonly encountered finding in neurosurgery in which air displaces intracranial cerebrospinal fluid after cranial surgery or a cerebrospinal fluid leak into paranasal or mastoid sinuses. When an intracranial air collection becomes chronically established in a fixed loculation causing mass effect, pneumatocele is a more appropriate term. We present an unusual case of a spontaneous giant frontotemporal epidural pneumatocele that persisted for more than 1 year before the patient presented for neurological treatment.Case DescriptionA 40-year-old man with a remote history of minor head trauma presented with symptoms of headaches, dizziness, and vertigo. Imaging revealed a right giant epidural pneumocephalus secondary to bony dehiscence of the intracranial wall of the mastoid bone. A subtemporal middle fossa approach was performed to repair the mastoid defect with hydroxyapatite, fat graft, and temporalis fascia. The patient was discharged on postoperative day 2 with improvement in his headaches. One month after discharge operative imaging demonstrated complete resolution of his epidural pneumatocele and improvement in his headaches.ConclusionsThis unique case represents the first reported case in the neurosurgical literature of a giant spontaneous epidural pneumatocele occurring in an adult treated with a middle fossa approach with resolution on follow-up imaging.Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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