Doha, Qatar: A six-year old boy, born with a rare condition called a nasal meningoencephalocele, underwent a minimally invasive procedure at Sidra Medicine recently. This was the first time such a procedure was performed on a child in Qatar, where the anterior base of the skull was repaired entirely endoscopically via the nose. Nasal meningoencephalocele, where brain tissue and the protective layers around it (known as meninges) get pushed through a hole in the base of the skull and into the nose, is a rare condition affecting 1 in 40,000 births1.
The child was seen at the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) clinic at Sidra Medicine with a blockage in his nose. After an in-office endoscopy and imaging, the diagnosis showed a tumour had created an unusual route from the sterile area inside his skull to the outside, putting him at risk of serious infections and leakage of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), a clear, colourless body fluid found in the brain and spinal cord. Since the mass of the tumour was blocking his nose, it was making it hard for him to breathe.
The ENT team at Sidra Medicine led by Dr. Taseer Din and Dr Mohamed Mahdi, ENT hospitalist, meticulously planned and executed the operative procedure. The minimally invasive approach involved navigating specialized endoscopic instruments through the nostrils to access the meningoencephalocele.
Using exceptional precision, the team carefully dissected and removed the tumour mass. This eliminated the need for traditional open surgery of.