Pneumocephalus and Facial Droop on an Airplane: A Case Report

Authors

Irina Sanjeevan-Cabeza, Thomas Jefferson University
Morgan Oakland, Thomas Jefferson University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-10-2020

Comments

This is the final published full text of the article from Clinical Practice and Cases in Emergency Medicine, 2020

The full text of the article can be found at: https://escholarship.org/content/qt77k6c143/qt77k6c143.pdf?t=qbpmj8

DOI: 10.5811/cpcem.2020.4.46799

Copyright Sanjeevan-Cabeza, et.al.

Abstract

Introduction: Pneumocephalus (PNC) is most commonly associated with trauma or intracranial surgery, less commonly secondary to an infectious source, and is rarely caused by barotrauma.

Case report: A 32-year-old woman presented to the emergency department with complaint of resolved left-sided facial droop and a lingering paresthesia of her left upper extremity after a cross-country flight. Computed tomography demonstrated several foci of air in the subdural space consistent with PNC.

Conclusion: For PNC to occur there must be a persistent negative intracranial pressure gradient, with or without an extracranial pressure change. In this case the pressure change occurred due to cabin pressure.

Recommended Citation

Sanjeevan-Cabeza, Irina and Oakland, Morgan, "Pneumocephalus and Facial Droop on an Airplane: A Case Report" (2020). Department of Emergency Medicine Faculty Papers. Paper 117.
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/emfp/117

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Language

English