Traumatic tears of the tela chorioidea: a hitherto unrecognized cause of post-traumatic hydrocephalus.

A new and hitherto unrecognized phenomenon of rupture of the tela chorioidea in closed head injury of acceleration-deceleration type is described. It occurs very frequently, especially in association with blows in the centro-axial plane even if the acceleration forces are relatively mild. These tears are regularly followed by intraventricular bleeding which follows the flow of the CSF into the subarachnoid space producing a leptomeningeal reaction with impairment of absorption of CSF and consequent communicating hydrocephalus.