Pneumoventricle of Unknown Origin: A Personal Experience and Literature Review of a Clinical Enigma

Abstract

Background: Pneumocephalus is an uncommon and life-threatening neurologic condition. Air within the ventricular system of the brain is also known as pneumoventricle (PV). It requires emergency treatments to prevent catastrophic neurologic outcomes. Head injury is the most common cause of PV, but there are other well-recognized etiologies in case there is no clear radiological evidence of skull discontinuity.

Case description: Although this clinical entity has been well described in the literature, our report presents the unique feature of describing a purely ventricular pneumocephalus without evidence of skull base or cranial vault fracture. Therefore, this case presentation explores mysterious causes of fistulous connections with the atmosphere that may lead to air trapped in and around the cranial vault.

Conclusions: The aim of the present paper is to report a case of post-traumatic PV without radiological signs of skull base or convexity fracture in a 72-year-old man, underlining the diagnostic and clinical features, and review the relevant literature.

Keywords: HRCT; Head trauma; MRI; Pneumocephalus; Pneumoventricle.