[Cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea (author's transl)].
A series of 140 surgical cases of CSF rhinorrhea have been reviewed, their diagnostic difficulties outlined and the possible etiologies and the modes of surgical approach explained. The localization of the leak is difficult in traumatic cases but if one searches diligently for the source with polytomography of the skull base as well as utilizing repetitive radioisotope studies, one can definitely find the source of the rhinorrhea. If the patient presents with purulent meningitis, a fistulous tract, acquired or congenital, should be sought and if present resected. Only precise surgical technique in and around the skull base in cases of rhinorrhea, allows total definitive recovery without recurrent leak and prevents post operative rhinorrhea in routine basal and trans-sphenoidal neurosurgical procedures.