A woman sneezed and her brain suddenly "leaked". This type of person is very likely to suffer from this disease!

Many people have experienced choking and sneezing when cutting peppers. However, Ms. Wang (pseudonym), 60 years old, sneezed and created a "hole" in her brain, causing cerebrospinal fluid to flow out like clear nasal mucus...

I sneezed while cutting peppers and had a runny nose.

"I was cutting peppers that day and choked a little, so I sneezed, and then water dripped out of my nose..." Ms. Wang still finds it incredible when talking about her illness. She has been cooking for her whole life, but she didn't expect that a few peppers would cause her to become ill.

Ms. Wang said that when her nose started to run, she didn't take it seriously, thinking it was just a runny nose, nothing serious. But after a while, Ms. Wang found that this "runny nose" was quite special, as long as she lowered her head, it would flow more, and it was like a leaking faucet, always flowing.

This "snot" is different from ordinary snot. It is not sticky and colorless, but more like water. What is annoying is that this "snot" flows not only during the day, but also at night. If you sleep on your back, it will flow into your throat. If you sleep on your side, there will be a large wet patch on your pillow when you wake up in the morning.

At the local hospital, doctors found that what was flowing out of Ms. Wang's nose was not ordinary "snot", but cerebrospinal fluid, which means there was a "hole" at the base of her skull, and the cerebrospinal fluid was leaking into her nose. This result scared Ms. Wang. Her brain was leaking water. What could have happened?

Ms. Wang then went to the neurosurgery department of a tertiary hospital in Ningbo, Zhejiang. The first problem the doctor had to solve after seeing her was to find the "leak point" in her brain.

"In order to find this place, we performed an MRI examination on her. The ordinary examination is in the supine position, but in order to find the 'leak point', we asked the patient to lie in the prone position for the examination. Finally, we discovered that there was a crack at the bottom of the parotid sinus." Li Jiping, attending physician of the Department of Neurosurgery of a tertiary hospital in Ningbo, said that after the "leak point" was found, the patient was immediately arranged to undergo surgery.

The doctor removed a small piece of myofascia and a small amount of fat from the outside of Ms. Wang's thigh and filled the "leakage" area with gauze. Currently, Ms. Wang is recovering well.

Why is there a " brain hole "? Obesity is an important reason

"Cerebral spinal fluid leakage is common in trauma patients. Cases like Ms. Wang's are idiopathic cerebrospinal fluid leakage, which is caused by a sharp increase in intracranial pressure due to weak skull base tissue. This disease is more common in obese people."

According to doctors, cerebrospinal fluid is a colorless, transparent liquid that the human body produces a certain amount of every day. Its function is to provide nutrition to brain cells and transport metabolic products of brain tissue, thus buffering the pressure of the brain and spinal cord. Generally, cerebrospinal fluid is produced and circulated inside the skull and is not connected to the outside world.

"Although the patient's surgery was successful, there is still a possibility of recurrence if the intracranial pressure increases sharply in the later stage." The doctor said that the biggest harm of cerebrospinal fluid leakage if it is not treated in time is that because the skull base and the nasal cavity are directly connected, the infection source in the nasal cavity can easily flow back into the skull and cause intracranial infection, which can seriously endanger the patient's life.

Doctors remind that if clear watery liquid flows out of the nasal cavity and the condition worsens when lowering the head or exerting force, you should be alert and seek medical attention as soon as possible, especially those who have suffered head trauma.

How to distinguish between nasal mucus and cerebrospinal fluid?

Experts warn that frequent, unexplained runny nose accompanied by high fever and vomiting may be cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea.

It should be noted that the nasal fluid from patients with cerebrospinal fluid ear and nose leakage is different from ordinary nasal mucus. It is watery, non-viscous, and large in quantity. It can continue to flow out when the head is lowered or lying on the side.

When the colorless liquid flowing out of the nostrils dries without forming a crust, and the flow rate increases when bending the head to exert force or compressing the veins, the possibility of cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea should be considered. To confirm whether it is cerebrospinal fluid, quantitative glucose analysis is required.

Planning and production

Source: People's Daily Online Science and Technology Comprehensive News Morning Post, Ningbo Evening News, Guangzhou Daily previously reported

Editor: Yang Yaping