Purpose: To overview the management of encephalocele and evaluate the outcome in our institutions through a period of 5 years.
Methods: This is a retrospective study was performed on all infants that were admitted and operated upon for encephalocele in department of Neurosurgery of Benha University and Benha specialized children hospitals in the last 5 years, from June 2016 to June 2021.
Results: This study had 58 infants with encephalocele were with age ranged from 1 to 345 days with a mean age ±SD of 244 ±20 days. 6 types of encephalocele according to location and shape were treated; 22 (37.9%) occipital, 12 (20.7%) atretic, 9 (15.5%) vault, 7 (12.1%) occipito-cervical, 5 (8.6%) ethmoidal, and 3 (5.2%) double encephaloceles. we classified encephaloceles into 3 sizes; small, medium and large. We found that 20.7% of infants associated with hydrocephalus. Only 5 deaths were reported and 3 of them were not related to encephalocele and its management.
Conclusions: Management of encephalocele includes full investigations and proper diagnosis for optimum surgical plan. Meticulous patient preparation, surgery, and good postoperative care and follow up are mandatory for good outcome. Associated hydrocephalus which was not significantly related to encephalocele type or size and neurological & non-neurological conditions are common and should be taken in consideration.