Petrous apex cephalocele is a rare form of cephalocele centered typically in the posterolateral part of Meckel cave with variable extension into the petrous apex. They can be unilateral or bilateral (commoner).
On this page:
Epidemiology
There may be a slight female predilection.
Clinical presentation
The lesions are incidentally detected and are asymptomatic most of the time. However, they may present with trigeminal neuralgia, trigeminal neuropathy (facial numbness), headache, CSF otorrhea, or hearing loss 1.
Associations
Recognized associations of petrous apex cephaloceles include
Radiographic features
CT
- homogeneously low density area is noted in the petrous apex with sharply defined margins
MRI
MRI can demonstrate the continuation with Meckel cave and hence helps in providing a confident diagnosis thereby preventing unnecessary surgical intervention. The signal intensities follow that of CSF.
- T1: hypointense
- T2: hyperintense
- FLAIR: typical CSF suppression
- DWI: no restriction
Differential diagnosis
As a general differential consider
Unable to process the form. Check for errors and try again.