A new radionuclide method for the diagnosis of posttraumatic cerebrospinal fistulas. A study of 308 cases.

The authors describe their technique for identifying and localizing posttraumatic cerebrospinal fluid fistulas. The method entails injection of radionuclide tracer into the subarachnoid frontal space with the patient in a sitting position followed by gamma camera scintigraphic recordings. The results in 308 patients are presented; these are compared with those of suboccipital radionuclide cisternography in 40 cases and metrizamide computerized tomography cisternography in nine cases. Transient complications occurred in only three patients.