Cerebrospinal fluid leak rate after the use of BioGlue in translabyrinthine vestibular schwannoma surgery: a prospective study.

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of BioGlue surgical adhesive in dural and middle ear closure after translabyrinthine vestibular schwannoma surgery.

Study Design: A prospective study.

Setting: Tertiary neurotological referral center.

Patients: There were 24 patients in the BioGlue series. BioGlue was used in the same manner in all cases. All patients received similar postoperative care.

Interventions: We studied the use of BioGlue and its possible effect on further reducing our department's cerebrospinal fluid leak rate for translabyrinthine vestibular schwannoma surgery.

Main Outcome Measures: Postoperative events were documented that enabled us to determine the overall cerebrospinal fluid leak rate (including incidence of various leak routes and morbidity).

Results: The overall cerebrospinal fluid leak rate was 62.5% (15 of 24). Rhinorrhoea was the commonest route (80%), followed by postaural wound leak (33.3%) and external auditory canal otorrhoea (33.3%). Forty percent of cases had more than one cerebrospinal fluid leak route; 73.3% of leak cases required lumbar drain insertion, 40% needed pressure bandaging, and 66.7% had to undergo formal surgical repair. Forty percent had recurrent leaks after the initial episode had completely ceased. The mean extra stay in hospital as a result of the cerebrospinal fluid leak was 13.3 days.

Conclusion: Our preliminary prospective study of the use of BioGlue for dural and middle ear closure in translabyrinthine vestibular schwannoma surgery demonstrated poor results. The high cerebrospinal fluid leak rate associated with the unusual presentations and ensuing management difficulties in controlling these leaks lead us to recommend that BioGlue not be used in translabyrinthine vestibular schwannoma surgery. The manufacturers have noted our results and have considered adding our recommendation to the product data sheet.