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Sinus pericranii: an overview and literature review of a rare cranial venous anomaly (A review of the existing literature with case examples)

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Abstract

Sinus pericranii is a rare vascular abnormality characterised by abnormal connections between the intra- and extracranial venous systems and is usually found in children. In most instances, a sinus pericranii presents as a soft scalp swelling that appears with the patient in the recumbent position and disappears in the erect position. We review two cases of sinus pericranii presented in adulthood and treated surgically with good outcomes. We have performed a search of the English literature using the PubMed database and reviewed the published cases to date to present an overview of this pathological entity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Victor Horsley Department of Neurosurgery, the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK

    Harith Akram

  2. Department of Neurosurgery, Essex Neuroscience Centre, Queens Hospital, Romford, UK

    Georgios Prezerakos, N. Haliasos & Hu Low

  3. Department of Histopathology, Box 235 Level 5, John Bonnett Clinical Laboratories, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 0QQ, UK

    Dominic O’Donovan

Authors
  1. Harith Akram
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  2. Georgios Prezerakos
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  3. N. Haliasos
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  4. Dominic O’Donovan
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  5. Hu Low
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Correspondence to Harith Akram.

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Comments

Marc Sindou, Lyon, France

Because sinus pericranii is rare, knowledge on how to deal with these lesions is somewhat uncertain. As these abnormalities can be the source of cosmetic preoccupations or chronic disabling symptoms, such as local cephalalgia, headaches, bruits…, patients may be willing to have the lesion radically treated. Before deciding percutaneous occlusion or surgical resection with bony defect repair, it seems wise to explore the underlying intracranial venous circulation, at least with venous angio-MR, or better, with femoral DSA, to check the haemodynamics of the venous circulation. As a matter of fact, occlusion–resection should be avoided if the sinus pericranii is involved in the drainage of an “isolated” venous cerebral territory.

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Akram, H., Prezerakos, G., Haliasos, N. et al. Sinus pericranii: an overview and literature review of a rare cranial venous anomaly (A review of the existing literature with case examples). Neurosurg Rev 35, 15–26 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10143-011-0325-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10143-011-0325-6

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